North Macedonia’s prime minister formally steps down

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has formally resigned, a move he had announced after his governing Social Democrat party’s heavy defeat in October’s local elections. Zaev is set to be replaced by a former deputy finance minister, Dimitar Kovachevski, who was elected the left-wing party’s new leader on Dec. 13 after Zaev also relinquished the Social Democrats’ leadership. Within the next 10 days, President Stevo Pendarovski must now hand the mandate to a coalition led by the Social Democrats that controls a majority in the 120-member parliament. The Social Democrats secured the majority after a deal with a small ethnic Albanian party to join the government coalition.