The session for the election of the new government, proposed by the mandate holder and leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, continued in the Parliament this morning. Voting will follow after the end of the search, at midnight at the latest.

The government will be elected if the majority of the total number of deputies vote for it.
The session started yesterday with an exposé of Mickoski, followed by the president of the state Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova and representatives of the diplomatic corps. Mickoski explained the program and the proposal for the composition of the government. He announced the restoration of trust in institutions, uncompromising fight against corruption and crime, economic revival, reduction of taxes, increase of pensions and salaries, building good relations with neighbors, nurturing inter-ethnic relations and commitment to European integration. He told the opposition that he has an extended hand and that he is ready to discuss all open and important issues. The opposition, on the other hand, assessed that the program of the new government is far from the promises made and that it cannot be predicted that it will realize what it promises.
Among the speakers was the leader of SDSM, former prime minister and current MP, Dimitar Kovacevski, according to whom the program has inconsistent parts and views. The announcements about the economy, Kovacevski assessed, are general, without specific figures for increasing the average and minimum wages, while regarding the personnel composition of the government, he stressed that “the time has come for the current government majority to vote for those it attacked until yesterday”, pointing out as an example, Arben Taravari, who has been proposed as Minister of Health.

The parliamentary majority expected to support the new government in the Legislature consists of 78 MPs, 58 from the VMRO-DPMNE coalition, 14 from Vredi and six from ZNAM.

The new government will have a total of 20 ministries, four more than before. The government will have 24 members. In addition to the Prime Minister, there will be 23 other Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers, 20 of whom have portfolios. Mickoski will have five deputies or vice prime ministers, and one of them will be “first vice prime minister”. In the government cabinet, 15 members are from the coalition led by VMRO-DPMNE, six from the Vredi coalition and two from ZNAM.