North Macedonia’s center-right leader given official mandate to form government after election win

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia’s president has formally asked center-right leader Hristijan Mickoski to form a new government following his victory in last month’s parliamentary elections. A coalition led by Mickoski’s VMRO-DPMNE party won just over 43% of the vote in the May 8 election, gaining 58 of parliament’s 120 seats, three short of the number needed to govern alone. After weeks of negotiations, Mickoski announced an initial coalition government deal with an ethnic Albanian party and a small leftist party. Mickoski now has 20 days to form a government, but says he hopes to do so much faster.