Prime Minister Zoran Zaev expressed his disappointment in the Liberal Democratic Party, which decided to leave the joint group in Parliament. LDP insists that it will still support Zaev’s Government, which badly needs the two LDP votes in Parliament, but Zaev protested that the decision comes at a time when VMRO-DPMNE is working to overturn his Government by courting defections.

LDP has the right to decide about its own actions in Parliament. We communicated with them yesterday through our SDSM Secretary General and told them that what they are dong is a blow for SDSM. They could’ve waited two weeks. Not now. This is harming our coalition, Zaev said, noting that next month he faces a vote of no confidence in two of his key ministers – Ljupco Nikolovski and Bojan Maricic, over the persistent failures of the Government in the rule of law.

Still, Zaev insisted that he will have the 61 votes needed to convene sessions of Parliament and that he will protect Maricic and Nikolovski. He added that the BESA party, which holds four seats in Parliament, also wants to leave the coalition group in Parliament and form its own group.