Macedonian Parliament Votes In New Government

Macedonia’s parliament voted in a new government on Wednesday evening led by center-left Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.

BELGRADE (Sputnik) — Zaev’s cabinet was endorsed by 62 legislators in the 120-seat Assembly after four days of debates. The results of voting were announced by speaker Talat Xhaferi, who swore the government in.

The 42-year-old Zaev is the leader of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM). In a speech on Tuesday, he promised to bring the Balkan nation into the European Union and NATO.

SDSM will be ruling the country in a coalition with two smaller ethnic Albanian parties – the Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) and the Alliance for Albanians.

Under a power sharing pact that aims to increase Albanian presence in the government, the ethnic parties have nominated nine ministers, while Zaev’s party has put forth 17 candidates.

Macedonia has been without a functioning government since last December, when former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's conservative VMRO-DPMNE party won parliamentary elections but could not form a government. His party will now become the main opposition group.