With a slim majority of 65 votes out of a total of 120 MPs, the Parliament of North Macedonia elected new prime minister Talat Xhaferi, head of the “Democratic Party for Integration” (DUI), the largest party of the Albanian minority in the country. Xhaferi will lead a caretaker government, with the main task of leading North Macedonia to parliamentary elections, which have already been called for May 8. Many are talking about a “historic moment”.

He himself Jaffery, speaking in Parliament, simply says that his government’s “top priority will be the preparation and conduct of free, fair and democratic elections with open and legal procedures.” The institution of caretaker government was established in North Macedonia only in 2015, with the aim of preventing the manipulation of the electoral process by the respective ruling party.

In addition, the relevant agreement provides that for the last 100 days before the ballot box, the official opposition is granted the Ministries of Interior and Finance, which are considered crucial for the smooth conduct of the elections. This means that until May 9, these two important portfolios are taken over by the opposition right-wing party VMRO-DPMNE, which will also have three deputy ministers in the new caretaker government.

Criticism and distances from the opposition

The elevation of Xhaferi to the prime ministership is due to an agreement that the Social Democrats (SDSM) and the DUI had already concluded in 2020, in the context of arduous negotiations for the formation of a coalition government in Skopje. According to the latest polls, the opposition VMRO-DPMNE is expected to win the May 8 elections and is already criticizing Xhaferi’s role, despite being part of his government. Speaking in Parliament on Sunday, former foreign minister and VMRO-DPMNE leader Antonio Milošoski called the Social Democrats “faithful servants of a corrupt DUI”, making the citizens of North Macedonia “strangers in their own country”, as supports.

About 25% of the inhabitants of North Macedonia belong to the Albanian ethnicity. After the country broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991, Albanians constantly complained about “lack of opportunities” and “discrimination” against the Slavic majority. Tensions escalated and eventually led in 2001 to an armed conflict with Albanian rebels, which lasted six months. At the time Jafferi was serving in the regular army as an officer, but left to lead a rebel group.

Positions of responsibility – either by appointment or after elections – had been assumed by some representatives of the Albanian minority even before the civil conflict of 2001. However, this is the first time that an Albanian has been elected to the prime ministership. “This is a historic moment,” the former rebel leader who became prime minister declared via Facebook.

“National Treason”

Although Xhaferi has already served as Minister of Defense and Speaker of the Parliament, his election to such a high office angers nationalists in Skopje. On the same wavelength, the Left Party (Levica), which maintains traditional ties with Moscow, speaks of “another national betrayal”, recalling that Xhaferi “had defected” from the regular army of North Macedonia in the civil conflict of 2001 .

For his part, Jelal Neziri, a journalist and political analyst of Albanian origin in Skopje, compares Xhaferi’s election to Obama’s election to the White House in 2008. As he tells DW, “the symbolism is powerful: regardless of his nationality each, there are no ‘forbidden places’ in this country. As happened with the election of Obama in the USA or Sunak in Great Britain, such a moment proves the democratic maturity of the ethnic majority”.

Source: DW