Prime Minister Zoran Zaev remains missing from public eye since the scandalous session of Parliament last Thursday, when his Government avoided a vote of no confidence after an opposition representative who was supposed to cast the decisive vote suspiciously went missing.

Zaev looked uneasy that evening and even friendly outlets noted that he appeared scared behind the virus mask, as Speaker Talat Xhaferi and a group of other DUI party officials surrounded him and declared that the motion was defeated. Only DUI officials made statements to the public, while Zaev left the Parliament, and hasn’t been seen since.

Since then, Zaev sent a few social media messages to congratulate “our team” on reaching the second round of World Cup qualifications, and a few mundane messages on tolerance. One set of pictures was shared by the Government’s press office, from a meeting he had with Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska and NATO officers and a pro-Government news outlet shared a brief statement Zaev gave them, but without audio or video.

Zaev seemed eager to resign on October 31st, the day of the second round of the local elections, when VMRO-DPMNE swept almost all major urban centers, leaving Zaev’s SDSM party with a token few cities and a few dozen rural areas. Zaev announced that he intends to resign as Prime Minister and SDSM party leader – a decision that was immediately rejected by DUI, which insisted that he must remain in place until the end of the year, for the possible signing of a new round of concessions to Bulgaria.

This policy of appeasing Bulgaria has cost SDSM dearly – it caused a split in the party and dramatically reduced the share of votes SDSM won compared to the last general elections – and halved it compared to the 2017 local elections. Zaev also appeared off when he said that he is postponing his resignations a few days before the attempted vote in Parliament – which was the last time he made a meaningful public statement. Even if he is having second thoughts and wants to reverse his long standing policy of appeasing Macedonia’s neighbors with concessions on Macedonia’s national identity and history, it seems that it won’t be easy for him to get out of the obligations and promises that he has apparently made.