The New Social Democratic Party (NSDP) publicly assured Zoran Zaev that they will remain loyal to his coalition, even after the humiliating defeat in the first round of the local elections. NSDP has two seats in Zaev’s coalition which saw the LDP-DOM duo launch independent candidates, as Zaev suffered a wave of defeats against VMRO-DPMNE. Zaev called on LDP and DOM to get back in the fold.

The support the citizens gave us in the first round are an additional obligation for us to continue to work for the citizens and to protect state interests. NSDP is unified in its determination to remain part of the ruling majority and we call on the voters to support our coalition candidates in the second round, the party said.

NSDP famously sunk SDSM in the 2006 general elections when it split from SDSM and sided with VMRO-DPMNE. LDP and especially DOM and another small DS party have an even longer track record of changing sides between the two major parties, and this must be on Zaev’s mind as he tries to respond to the electoral disaster on Sunday.