DUI party leader Ali Ahmeti gleefully predicted that will again be the kingmaker after the early elections delivered a narrow result between the two main parties, VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM.

There will be grand negotiations. Grand negotiations. Mala Recica (the village near Tetovo where DUI has its party HQ) will be known around the region. Like it was four years ago. Like the United Nations, Ahmeti said.

Four years ago the Macedonian parties also had to court Ahmeti after the results were also closer than expected. Ahmeti decided to make SDSM his coalition partner, but only after exacting major concessions, such as turning Macedonia into a fully bilingual Macedonian – Albanian country. Short of a grand coalition, it’s unlikely that any party would be able to form a Government without Ahmeti.