With the period of mourning after the deadly Sofia bus accident ending tomorrow, the political crisis is expected to resume. Zoran Zaev was expected to resign as Prime Minister and SDSM party leader on Tuesday, when the country woke to the news of the disastrous accident that killed at least 44 passengers.

Media outlets close to SDSM reported that he will still go ahead with his decision, possibly as early as Friday. A cancelled meeting of the Alternative party is also expected to take place tomorrow, after which Zaev will know whether he can count on their votes in Parliament to get over 61 seats again. If he does, he will probably go ahead and begin the resignation process, expecting that SDSM will still remain in power, under a different Prime Minister and party leader.

Zaev said that he will resign after losing the local elections to VMRO-DPMNE, and after the complete failure of his policy – to use appeasement to get Bulgaria to lift its veto against Macedonia’s EU accession talks. The key take-away from Zaev’s press conference in Sofia on Tuesday was that he is apparently hoping that the outburst of emotions following the disaster will push Bulgaria to lift its veto, but these hopes were quickly dashed by Bulgarian officials in Brussels.

Meanwhile, comments from Zaev’s Interior Minister and his loyalist prosecutors indicate that he will not ask for accountability from the bus company – as the initial reports that the bus possibly smuggling cheap Turkish diesel fuel were denied by Macedonian authorities. The Besa company is believed to be close to the DUI party, which is a crucial part of Zaev’s coalition, and has actually lately seemed like it is the one in charge of the course of the Government.