Outgoing Speaker Talat Xhaferi cancelled the Parliament session he called in order to elect a new Speaker.

Xhaferi planned the session for today, just as SDSM party leader Zoran Zaev is set to receive the mandate to form the next Government from President Stevo Pendarovski. Zaev apparently still doesn’t have a coalition agreement with enough parties to get to the 61 votes that are needed, and forcing a vote on a new Speaker today, which also requires 61 votes, would have weakened his position. That is why it was surprising that Xhaferi called the session in the first place, and it indicated posturing between Xhaferi’s DUI party and SDSM.