There is still no word when the Parliament will hold a vote on the proposed new SDSM – DUI led Government. The deadline for Zoran Zaev to present a proposal before Parliament expires on September 2.

A major issue appears to be the rift in DUI, which needs to provide the crucial 15 votes in support of the Government. Party branches have rebelled against some of the proposals. The party even had to order one of its members of Parliament, Florin Besimi, to resign after the Anti-Corruption Commission declared it would be a conflict of interest if he voted for the Government as his brother Fatmir Besimi is expected to be nominated as Finance Minister.

The Skopje branches, headquartered in Cair and Saraj, led by Izet Mexhiti have reportedly rebelled against the proposal of giving Artan Grubi and Bujar Osmani the other two high profile positions in the Government given to DUI – the former is expected to be First Deputy Prime Minister and rumored to have veto powers over decisions made by Zoran Zaev, while the latter is nominated as Foreign Minister.

Main changes in SDSM compared to the previous Government include the removal of two prominent Skopje faction officials – Renata Deskoska and Damjan Mancevski, and the higher placement of Zaev loyalists like Ljupco Nikolovski who will be Deputy Prime Minister and Blagoj Bocvarski as Transportation Minister, while Oliver Spasovski would remain as Interior Minister.