North Macedonia forms caretaker government

BELGRADE, Serbia

North Macedonia on Friday formed a new caretaker government after Zoran Zaev resigned as prime minister.

The caretaker government, as required by law, comes 100 days before the snap parliamentary elections set for April 12.

The interim government under the prime minister of Oliver Spasovski, who served as interior minister in the previous government, received a vote of confidence from parliament.

In the 120-seat parliament, 101 deputies voted "yes", while "no" and "abstention" were not used in the vote for the approval of the provisional government.

Spasovski said in a parliamentary speech following the vote that the country is in a very important period and all institutions are expected to work unimpeded.

"Time is the time when fair and democratic elections should be held. It is time to follow up on its decisions to start accession negotiations with the EU," said Spasovski.

Spasovski was proposed by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia and supported by the opposition Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization -- Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity.

Following a decision by the EU to delay the start of accession negotiations with North Macedonia, political leaders in the country agreed to hold early parliamentary elections.