Talat Xhaferi re-elected chairman of Northern Macedonia

“Tlate Xhaferi is the right man in the right place. He is the most successful chairman of the assembly, the man who has broken the taboo that the Albanian may not only be the mayor of the assembly, but also the most successful chairman”, has declared Izet Mexhidi on behalf of the DUI parliamentary group.

Even the Social Democratic League has given support to Talat Xhaferi's re-election in the post of speaker of the assembly, but one of the LSDM deputy chairmans, Muhamed Zeqiri, has led criticism of Xhaferi, accusing him of having links to the former structures of Nikola Gruevski's government, in particular with former chairman of the assembly, Trajko Veljanovski.

“is the most successful chairman to be remembered as the only chairman to have housed a criminal like Trajko Veljanovski (former head of the assembly during the riots on April 27, 2017)”, Zeqi has declared.

Meanwhile, against the new chairman of the assembly, the Macedonian opposition has also voiced criticism of the way the Parliament led in the past, in particular in relation to the opposition.

“Disrespecting the opposition, refusing to start a debate on opposition amendments, disrupting discussions, violating parliamentary procedures, violating the regulation on the work of the Parliament are just some of the issues that have characterised Talat Xhafer's work as speaker. If these are considered a successful job, then this majority has a problem with the definition of being democratic. Xhaferi does not have the support of the opposition”, Nikola Micevski has declared by VMRO DPMNE.

The Albanian opposition consisting of the Alliance for Albanians and the Alternative Party, its accusations against the new parliamentary majority were largely due, as it said, to violate the Albanian vote in the 15 July elections. From this coalition, they said their main goal in the work of the assembly would be to protect democracy.

“As a coalition, we will not allow to violate the pledges given to 82,000 voters and their 10,000 others who went out in protests on charges of DUI theft. So, we will not allow the commitment given to people who have sought democracy to be violated, but that DUI and Talat Xhaferi along with Ali Ahmeti denied this democracy”, Skender Rexhepi has declared by the opposition Albanian coalition.

The chairman of the assembly is elected by 61 votes out of 120 as the Northern Macedonia Assembly counts. The assembly's election opens the way for the new government's vote made up of LSDM and DUI.

But the appointment of ministerial posts, as it becomes known, has prompted the response of several DUI branches, which have called for ministerial posts to be represented. However, DUI has said such debates are part of the democracy that exists within this party.

The DUI in the new government will have six ministries; the first deputy prime minister at the same time will be Minister of the Political System (Artan Grubi), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Bujar Osmani), the Ministry of Finance (Fatmir Besimi), Ecology (Naser Nuredini), the Economy (Cresnik Bekteshi), and the Ministry of Information Society and Public Administration, Macedonia's minister has not yet been appointed).

The Besa Movement, which was part of the pre-election coalition with the LSDM, will lead the Ministry of Agriculture (Arianni Hoxha), while other reactors -- the Interior and Defence Ministry, Labour and Social Policy, Education, Justice, Local Power, the Ministry of Transport, Health and Culture -- will meet LSDM and its pre-election coalition partners. The government vote is expected to take place next week.