SDSM party deputy leader Sanja Lukarevska said that the party will meet on January 10th to determine the composition of the Government that its leader Dimitar Kovaceski is supposed to propose to Parliament. Kovacevski is trying to juggle growing demands from his coalition partners, who became restless after he, and Zoran Zaev, gave unprecedented three Government departments to the small Alternative party which blackmailed Zaev with its four votes in Parliament. Now all other smaller partners are demanding a greater share of power from the declining SDSM.

At the moment our President and Secretary General are conducting intense talks with our coalition partners that are going in the positive direction. We are, after all, talking about some strategic goals that need to be accomplished by the new cabinet, Lukarevska said.

On top of departments, the smaller coalition partners want major changes to the electoral model – chief among them the abolition of the separate six electoral districts in favor of a single district. This would allow the larger of the “small parties” to run independently and win a seat in Parliament without the help of large parties like SDSM. But SDSM’s key coalition partner DUI is adamantly against this, because this would cost them the advantage of having a commanding lead in the 6th district.

If Kovacevski fails to submit a Government and a program to Parliament in less than two weeks, SDSM could lose the mandate.