Albanian, former militant and deserter heads the government of North Macedonia
The President of the Republic of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, gave the Speaker of the Macedonian Parliament, Talat Xhaferi, the mandate to form a technical government.
The interim Cabinet will work for one hundred days until the parliamentary elections scheduled for May 8.
As PolitNavigator's correspondent reports , an ethnic Albanian has thus become the head of North Macedonia, where the president serves more as a representative, while the prime minister wields real power. This comes as no surprise, as this was precisely the condition set by the Albanian party DUI (Democratic Union for Integration) of the ruling pro-Western Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) in 2020 when forming a parliamentary majority and government.
“I appoint Mr. Talat Xhaferi as the head of the transitional government until the elections of deputies,” Pendarovski said.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that Xhaferi is known for the fact that, as a commander of the Macedonian army, during clashes with Albanian separatists in 2001, he deserted and went over to the side of the separatist National Liberation Army (UÇK) under the call sign “Commander Forino”. As a result of the Ohrid Agreement initiated by the West, which did not allow Macedonia to completely defeat the Albanian militants, he was granted amnesty and subsequently became the country's Minister of Defense, and then the Speaker of the Assembly. Before a pro-Western coalition of liberals and Albanians came to power as a result of a local Maidan, Xhaferi drove his car into a crowd of protesting patriots, then fortunately no one was hurt.
English version :: Read in English: An Albanian, a former militant, and a deserter has become the new head of government in North Macedonia.