Macedonian president urged to task SDSM's Zaev to form new gov't

Macedonia's President is urged by the European Commission to give the mandate for the formation of a new government to the leader of Social ­Democratic party (SDSM) Zoran Zaev, local media reported on Sunday.

"As enough signatures of MPs have been collected, we look forward to the next steps," European Union (EU) commissioner for enlargement negotiations Johannes Hahn said Saturday in a statement.

"We now expect Macedonia's President to give the mandate to form the next government to the candidate from the parties which have the majority in the parliament, in line with the Constitution," he said.

Zoran Zaev had announced that he had secured the necessary signatures for the formation of a new government in Macedonia, following the agreement reached with the ethnic Albanian party, DUI.

Hahn called on all relevant actors, including the President and Parliament, to act in line with the Constitution's letter and spirit and in a responsible manner to enable a swift formation of a government, according to the statement.

On Friday night, the spokesperson of DUI Bujar Osmani told reporters that the party supported the formation of a SDSM-led government although DUI might not be part of it.

Earlier, SDSM and DUI had agreed on a law guaranteeing broader use of the Albanian language across Macedonia. During the past 10 days, Zoran Zaev of SDSM has been trying to secure the signatures of the majority of parliamentary seats.

SDSM garnered 49 seats in the snap general elections of Dec. 11, 2016 while the party needed 61 votes to be mandated for the creation of a new government.

Source: Xinhua