President Stevo Pendarovski’s office informed the public that they have been formally notified by the Parliament that Zoran Zaev has resigned as Prime Minister.

This now initiates the procedure in which Pendarovski needs to give the mandate to form a new Government to the candidate of a coalition that has majority in Parliament within ten days. The candidate then has 20 days to submit a program and a list of ministers to the Parliament for a vote.

It’s widely expected that Pendarovski, who was elected as an SDSM – DUI candidate – will give the mandate to Dimitar Kovacevski, the newly elected leader of SDSM who was handpicked by Zaev. It’s less clear whether Kovacevski will be able to keep together the fragile coalition Zaev left him, as well as the warring factions within SDSM.