BESA member of Parliament Kastriot Rexhepi, who went missing on Thursday after signing on to a motion to bring down the Zaev Government, appeared in Parliament today after several days in which he was presumed kidnapped. Rexhepi did not detail his ordeal, saying he received threats but without identifying their source. He claimed that he avoided the vote of no confidence on his own free will, as his absence sabotaged the vote and bought some more time for outgoing Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and his coalition partner Ali Ahmeti.

My initial thinking was to come to the session and vote opposed. But considering that the members from the coalition would’ve been absent and I would’ve been the only vote “against”, I was not sure in my physical safety and that I wouldn’t be exposed to attacks, both verbal and physical. We are still not a democratic country, Rexhepi said.

He cited Zaev’s decision to postpone his resignation as a reason why he changed his mind from his initial plan to vote to kick out his Government. Rexhepi indicated that the main factor were the expected negotiations that Zaev wants to conduct with the future Government of Bulgaria, which demands major concessions from Macedonia in order to lift its veto against Macedonia’s EU accession talks.

Let’s wait until December 14th, let’s give a chance to the clear signals from our strategic partners, Rexhepi added.

BESA removed Rexhepi, who belongs to a small islamist faction from Skopje’s Cair district and has ties to similar groups in DUI and SDSM, from its ranks after the incident. Meanwhile, Zaev is trying to bring the Alternative party on board, to regain the slim majority he lost when BESA defected from his coalition.