Government spokesmen Mile Bosnjakovski and Muhamet Hoxha, who come from the SDSM and DUI parties, insisted today that the Government is working normally and that the session today was productive. The comments come after the major spat which developed on Monday between SDSM and DUI members of Parliament, after the legislative body failed to strip former Speaker Trajko Veljanoski sfrom his immunity.

Several SDSM officials from the party’s ethnic Albanian wing like Muhamed Zeqiri said that the Government could be re-composed without DUI if necessary, hinting that the troubles in the ruling coalition are deep and expanding ahead of the presidential elections. The two party leaders, Zoran Zaev and Ali Ahmeti, also failed to appoint a joint presidential nominee even though it was expected to happen by the end of last week.

DUI has no concept of domestic reforms, has no concept of basic responsibility, doesn’t want to know that it is where it is in order to help develop the entire country and improve the lives of all citizens. The words economy and development are foreign to them, said Mersel Bilali, an ethnic Albanian adviser to Zoran Zaev, in a statement for the Zurnal news site.

Zaev’s SDSM made major inroads in the traditionally DUI controlled ethnic Albanian voting bloc in the 2016 elections, and the two parties have since been at odds despite their coalition, with DUI feeling that SDSM is intruding in its turf. The Albanian party had no such issues when in coalition with VMRO-DPMNE, which dominates among ethnic Macedonian voters. In his comments aimed at DUI, Zeqiri evoked the Muslim prophet Muhamed, while Bilali was at odds which metaphor to use to describe the dire situation.

A foreign diplomat tells me that he sees DUI like a Satanic cult which exists only for itself, impoverishes its people, forcing us to separate from our children who travel abroad in search for work. Many diplomats will not tell you that DUI is now a cancer which is spreading like a virus, said Bilali.

Bilali speculated that DUI could be split or pushed into opposition and oblivion, comments which the Albanian media outlets see as coming from Zaev, given that Bilali advises the Prime Minister.