Albanian Besa party

In North Macedonia's parliament on Monday, MP Kastriot Rexhepi said his absence from last Thursday's session, which aborted a planned vote of no confidence in the government had been his own decision. He had not been "kidnapped", as frustrated opposition lawmakers suggested. He had simply wanted to avoid unwarranted publicity.

Opposition leader Hirstijan Mickoski's right-wing VMRO DPMNE party, their Albanian coalition partners Alliance for Albanians and Alternative, alongside the small opposition Levica party, and the ethnic Albanian BESA party, who has just defected from the current government ranks, came together to form a new majority in North Macedonia's parliament.

Talks aimed at broadening support in parliament for Zoran Zaev's fragile government in Macedonia have entered their final phase, and the outcome should be known within the next few days or next week.

A feud between two opposing camps inside the small ethnic Albanian BESA party has created another headache for the Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who would like to see all the party's five MPs in his government, boosting its wafer-thin majority.

Macedonia's main ruling party, the Social Democrats, and the ethnic Albanian BESA party have exchanged a series of mutual accusations and warnings.

The dispute erupted after the Social Democrats, the SDSM, decided to openly support BESA's bitter Albanian rivals in the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, in the October 15 local elections.

Former Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt has urged respect for democracy and European values during a trip to Skopje today in an effort to push Macedonian politicians towards solving the country's ongoing tense political stalemate.

An opinion poll published on Monday suggested that the gap between the main ruling VMRO DPMNE and the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM has significantly narrowed while the number of undecided voters who could determine the outcome of the December 11 election is still high.