DUI party leader Ali Ahmeti, who holds the key 15 votes for the creation of any future Government, said that he stands firm by his request that an ethnic Albanian is named Prime Minister. Ahmeti is involved in talks with Zoran Zaev’s SDSM party, which received the mandate today, but the issue of who gets to be Prime Minister is proving to be a major obstacle.

If they have strong arguments against our proposal, we are willing to discuss them. Why not an Albanian Prime Minister?, Ahmeti said during an event he staged to mark the anniversary of the 2001 Ohrid peace treaty. His attempt to convene a pan-Albanian meeting on the anniversary failed as other party leaders shunned Ahmeti and refused to be seen as guests at his event.