Zoran Zaev’s unexpected decision to nominate himself as Finance Minister raised an interesting theory – that he is preparing a backup option in case of early elections.

Under the so-called Przino treaty rules – rules which Zaev insisted on when he was leader of the opposition, the Prime Minister resigns 100 days before a general election. But, if Zaev is also a Finance Minister, a position he took from Dragan Tevdovski, he can expect to remain in the Government during the election process.

Under the original Przino deal, Nikola Gruevski resigned as Prime Minister, with another VMRO-DPMNE official, Emil Dimitirevski, appointed in his place, and the management of four departments, including that of finance, were shared between VMRO and SDSM.

Macedonia narrowly averted holding early elections this autumn. Zaev announced he will resign if Macedonia is not given a date to open EU accession talks, but then decided to ignore his own threat and carry on.