SDSM party leader Zoran Zaev is set to meet with President Stevo Pendarovski later today and receive the mandate to form a new Government. This will give Zaev 20 days to cobble together a majority of 61 votes in Parliament.

It is believed that Zaev still doesn’t have a deal with the crucial DUI party, and an attempt to hold a vote on a new Speaker of Parliament, that would’v revealed the progress in their talks, was cancelled today.
There is also doubt over whether Pendarovski has the right to give the mandate. Under the Constitution the President gives the mandate to a candidate who has a (broadly defined) majority in Parliament within 10 days after the Parliament holds its constitutive session. The Parliament first met on August 4, but the session did not end with a vote on a new Speaker. This has prompted many constitutional experts to declare that the session is still not finished and the Parliament is not yet constituted. This is also the position of Speaker Talat Xhaferi.