The BESA party is formally out of Zaev’s coalition. Today the Parliament voted to remove Arjanit Hoxha as Agriculture Minister and two other BESA officials, Arafat Shabani and Sedat Sulejmani, as deputy ministers for education and culture.

BESA joined SDSM in a pre-election coalition in 2020, and won four seats in Parliament on the joint list. But it got into a growing dispute with DUI, especially during the local elections in which the parties fought over the Tetovo city hall, that was eventually won by BESA leader Bilal Kasami. BESA decided to leave the coalition shortly after the elections, in which SDSM badly lost to VMRO-DPMNE.

SDSM is trying to bring in the Alternative party, which holds four seats in Parliament, to replace BESA. The Alternative is demanding three Government departments and dozens of other public sector offices – a much higher price than the one exacted by BESA.