Following the dramatic meeting of the SDSM Central Committee, where Zoran Zaev dismissed much of the party leadership, he said that the purge will spread to his Government, with at least three ministers set to be dismissed.

In the previous period I’ve replaced six ministers, this time more than three will be replaced. I can’t be satisfied with what is being done. Anybody I’m dissatisfied with will be publicly asked to resign. We will not tolerate weakness. There will be a focus on the municipalities, there are many weaknesses there, among the mayors and the local public institutions. We promised a new life, and we have to fulfill the promise, Zaev said.

Asked by the press why is he asking others to resign while refusing to go himself, Zaev said that he sees no reason to resign.

We resolved the problems with Greece and Bulgaria, we brought the people together, Zaev said, explaining why he won’t leave.

His comments were echoed by one of his top loyalists, outgoing Agriculture Minister Ljupco Nikolovski, who was named new SDSM Secretary General as Aleksandar Kiracovski was pushed out.

We will request reports from all officials, from all mayors, we will closely monitor their implementation, Nikolovski warned.

Initially Zaev ordered the nearly 80 heads of SDSM local branches to resign, although he didn’t ask them to leave their public sector positions. This evening, he moved against the Radmila Sekerinska wing of the party, dismissing a number of organizational secretaries, but also the six deputy leaders of the party, and the purge will soon affect the most important, visible and often lucrative positions – the Government ministers.