Macedonia votes in new government
June 1, 2017
Macedonia's parliament late Wednesday approved a new center-left government, raising expectations of an end to two years of political crisis that threatened to plunge the country back into interethnic conflict.
Lawmakers approved 62-44 a new government led by Zoran Zaev, whose Social Democratic Party formed a coalition with two ethnic Albanian parties. Nine lawmakers were absent and five abstained.
Zaev vowed to pursue NATO and EU membership, which has been blocked by neighboring Greece over a name dispute. Athens demands the country be recognized officially as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The new prime minister also pledged to improve the economy, clamp down on corruption and heal simmering ethnic tensions.
"The concept of one society for all is the future of Macedonia," Zaev said Wednesday.
Zaev has said he would meet ethnic Albanian demands, including making Albanian a second official language.
About a quarter of Macedonia's population is ethnic Albanian and the country almost broke out into civil war in 2001.
Under the coalition agreement, seven of the 25 cabinet posts will be held by ethnic Albanians.
The new government ends 11 years of conservative VMRO-DPMNE rule led by former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.
Gruevski's party received the most votes in December's snap elections but was unable to form a coalition after his Albanian partners abandoned him to back the Social Democrats.
Zaev's party and VMRO-DPMNE have had sharp differences since a 2015 wire-tapping scandal plunged the country into crisis.
Macedonia has effectively been without a government for the past six months. The stalemate was broken after President Gjorge Ivanov reversed his previous refusal to give Zaev a mandate over concern granting more rights to Albanians would damage the country's unity and sovereignty.
The crisis reached a peak last month when Macedonian nationalists stormed
cw/sms (AP, dpa, Reuters)