President Stevo Pendarovski said that the new SDSM leader Dimitar Kovacevski is little known in the public, but indicated that he will give him the mandate to form the next Government anyway. After Zoran Zaev’s resignation, in the wake of his major defeat in the October local elections, he elevated Kovacevski as his successor in the party, and now wants Pendarovski’s help to make him Prime Minister.

I was notified by the Parliament that he (Zaev) has resigned and that the entire Government has resigned with him. Now the 10 days in which I’m obligated to give the mandate to the next Prime Minister are running. But I also need another notification informing me who is the pick of a party or a group of parties that claim to have the majority. I can’t just give the mandate to the housekeeper in SDSM, I need to know precisely who their candidate is, Pendarovski said.

He added that Kovacevski is a “major unknown” in Macedonian politics, but moderated this comment by saying that he has a wealth of academic experience and has been active in SDSM for a long time. SDSM, DUI and a smattering of smaller parties have about 63 or 64 seats in Parliament but this depends on whether SDSM will make enough concessions to satisfy all minor coalition partners, and whether the warring factions in the party itself can be appeased and held together.