Future Timeline

8:35 PM GMT, January 28, 2024

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia’s parliament on Sunday approved a caretaker government with a mandate to organize a general election in May.

The government of the small Balkan country of 1.8 million people will be headed by the country’s first-ever ethnic Albanian prime minister, current parliament speaker Talat Xhaferi, 61.

The 120-member parliament approved the caretaker government 65-3, with the main opposition, center-right VMRO-DPMNE lawmakers abstaining.

Despite the abstention, VMRO-DPMNE will join the government with two ministers (interior and labor and social welfare) out of the 20 total ministers, plus three deputy ministers.

VMRO-DPMNE attacked Xhaferi in a statement.

(ClickOnDetroit) SKOPJE – North Macedonia's center-right leader secured parliamentary approval to lead a new coalition government in a vote late Sunday.

Hristijan Mickoski, 46, faces significant challenges in his four-year term in office — above all to advance the small Balkan NATO member's lengthy efforts to join the 27-nation European Union.

At the same time, his VMRO-DPMNE party's nationalist bent is antagonizing neighboring members of the affluent bloc, in stark contrast to the previous center-left government it defeated i n May's national elections.

A total 77 lawmakers in the 120-seat house voted in favor of the new government, and 22 voted against. The remaining 21 lawmakers were absent during the ballot.

Mickoski's VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition gained 43% of the vote on May 8, winning 58 seats — three short of a governing majority. Mickoski then struck a deal to form a government with an ethnic Albanian and a leftist party, which together have 20 seats.