Zoran Zaev resigned as Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia this morning.

His resignation is part of the agreement between the main political parties, to ensure that the public administration will no longer be abused for the benefit of the ruling SDSM party in the run up to the elections. Zaev agreed to the arrangement in October, when his request to open EU accession talks was denied by the European Council, but then tried to get out of the deal and postpone the elections. But, eventually the deal held and a new Government is expected to be appointed today.

Following Zaev’s resignation, President Stevo Pendarovski is supposed to nominate a mandate holder, who would then propose an interim Government to the Parliament. According to the agreement, Zaev will be replaced by his loyalist Oliver Spasovski as interim Prime Minister with a mandate of 100 days, until April 12th when the elections take place.

VMRO-DPMNE nominated former Intelligence Agency director Nake Culev to replace Spasovski as the interim Interior Minister. VMRO also appoints interim ministers or deputy ministers in the Finance, Labour and Welfare and Agriculture departments, all of which have a high potential of being abused in the run up to the elections, with payments of subsidies or welfare. If all goes well, the interim Government could be appointed by the end of the day.