Zoran Zaev today met with Kastriot Rexhepi, the BESA party member of Parliament who suspiciously disappeared last week, after initially supporting the planned vote of no confidence in Zaev’s Government. After his disappearance, which many believe was actually kidnapping, the vote failed and Zaev remained in office for the time being.

Rexhepi now claims that he avoided the vote on his own free will, and today’s meeting indicates that Zaev is trying to draw him into his coalition. The Skopje based Islamist representative would be Zaev’s 60th vote, and he would still need to bring in other representatives to his side, possibly from the Alternative party which has four seats in Parliament.

The two didn’t make statements following the meeting, and the Government issued a broad statement indicating that Rexhepi could be part of a “stable democratic majority in Parliament”. The Zaev regime famously blackmailed members of Parliament, using criminal charges against them and family members, to force them to vote for the imposed name change in 2019.