Journalist Naser Pajaziti, who reports mainly on the Albanian parties in Macedonia, believes that the DUI party could walk out of its coalition with SDSM, if Zoran Zaev persists in his plan to leave as Prime Minister. DUI frequently rebuked Zaev for his decision, but he remains intent to appoint Dimitar Kovacevski as his successor and leave the Government.

SDSM will have a hard time getting to 61 votes in Parliament with Kovacevski as Prime Minister. We will see until December 15th if Macedonia will get a date to open EU accession talks. But it’s likely that DUI will opt for early elections, Pajaziti said.

SDSM lost its majority in Parliament with the defection of the BESA party, and Zaev is desperate to get another small Albanian party – the Alternative – on board, and restore the majority before he leaves the Government. But a number of political commentators believe that DUI’s patience with this project is wearing thin and that the party could capitalize on the divisions in the opposition Albanian parties and join VMRO-DPMNE’s call for early elections.