Zoran Zaev’s moves after he announced he plans to resign on Sunday evening, after the defeat in the local elections, indicate that he may be trying to remain as Prime Minister. Zaev’ supporters from the ranks of the party initiated a petition to “persuade” him to remain as SDSM leader, and his DUI coalition partner openly called on him to stay as Prime Minister.

We had a very tense conversation. I told Zaev that I don’t agree with his decision, with his resignation from the party or the Government. I pointed to the strong DUI position in the local elections. A year ago we won mandate to run the policies in the country. I spoke to Zaev again today, I told him that we can reach compromise on the main issues, and he can then resign. I still call on his party to revise this hasty and baseless decision, said DUI leader Ali Ahmeti.

Zaev’s announcement on Sunday evening gave closure to the public after voters enthusiastically punished him, after he announced that he sees the local elections as a referendum on his rule. His supporters were quick to declare Zaev’s move as a sign of his democratic maturity. But Zaev still hasn’t resigned from the Government, and now even his resignation as party leader seems uncertain. His allies keep citing the coronavirus pandemic and the looming energy crisis – both made worse by Zaev’s mismanagement – as reasons that will be taken into account as he considers when (or if) to resign.

In the coming period, looking into the global events, and the serious problems that are being announced, we are very careful in processing all decisions, said a Zaev loyalist, Slavjanka Petrovska, who was the face of the very negative and ultimately unproductive local election campaign SDSM waged. Petrovska was asked when she expects Zaev to resign as party leader – a position that is not directly tied to the crises she cited. “As a party we want to respect his decision, but at the same time this is something that needs to be discussed within the party. The coalition partners are discussing the situation and their message is that the Government is stable”, Petrovska said.

But Zaev faces rebellion in some of his smaller coalition partners. The LDP and DOM parties, who ran independently from SDSM in the local elections, say that they will remain in the coalition, but LDP said that they expect Zaev to resign.

There will be a new Government. The Prime Minister is resigning and the Government is resigning. You can’t have the Prime Minister leave and the Ministers remain, they are his picks, LDP leader Goran Milevski said.

Zaev supporters are also pointing to a vague statement from the US State Department, that they will continue to work with the Macedonian Government, as sign that international factors will interfere again and come to his aid, considering that Zaev is seen as the politician most open to accepting Bulgarian demands for concessions on national identity issues. This should lead to Bulgaria lifting its veto for Macedonia’s EU accession talks.