FYROM Opposition Claims Coalition Deal With Albanians; Gruevski: Drop Tirana Platform

FYROM's (Macedonia) opposition Social Democratic Union (SDSM) leader has submitted signatures of support from three ethnic Albanian political parties to President Gjorge Ivanov, saying he has secured enough support in parliament to form a government.

Zoran Zaev, whose left-wing coalition secured 49 parliamentary seats in December's elections, announced on February 27 that he had obtained 18 signatures of support from lawmakers from three ethnic Albanian parties.

That support would give him enough to form a 67-seat majority coalition in the 120-member parliament.

"The signatures allow the crisis to end in Macedonia and the country finally to move forward," Zaev said in Skopje on February 27, adding that he expected a "peaceful and quick transfer of power."

But although Macedonia's largest ethnic Albanian party agreed to give Zaev its signatures of support,...