Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski insisted that he doesn’t see himself as successor to Zoran Zaev in the party. Spasovski, who recently voiced what was for him an unusually divergent tone from Zaev on the dispute with Bulgaria. But when asked by TV21 journalist during his interview, Spasovski claimed that he has not even considered the idea of challenging Zaev.

I think he is a leader who made very important decisions in favor of our country, very courageous decisions, who managed to bring down a regime and deserves a new chance, Spasovski said.

Zaev’s Government is about to face a vote of no confidence after the failure of their EU integration policy, and the SDSM party is also having a major faction, led by former leader Branko Crvenkovski, call for Zaev’s ouster.