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Macedonia's SDSM leader gives president 67 MP signatures in bid to get gov't formation mandate

Xinhua, February 28, 2017 Adjust font size:

Zoran Zaev, head of Macedonian main opposition party, the Social Democratic Union (SDSM), submitted on Monday to President Gjorge Ivanov the signatures of 67 lawmakers of the 120-seat parliament.

By doing so, Zaev secured the majority of MP mandates, and is looking forward to being mandated by the president as the new prime minister-designate.

The SDSM garnered 49 seats in Dec. 11 snap elections but 61 seats were needed to get the mandate for the formation of the new government.

After meeting Ivanov, Zaev told reporters Monday that he expected the president to act according to the country's constitution and mandate him to form a new government.

He stressed that those signatures signaled the end of the prolonged crisis in Macedonia.

Several weeks ago, Ivanov said that he would give the mandate to the political party that secured 61 votes in the parliament.

On the other hand, the followers of the VMRO-DPMNE led by Nikola Gruevski have warned of violent protests and turmoil in case Zaev is mandated as new prime minister-designate. Endit