North Macedonia PM announces resignation after election loss

North Macedonia’s prime minister has announced his resignation following the heavy defeat of his governing Social Democratic Union in local elections

SKOPJE, North Macedonia -- Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced his resignation late Sunday following the heavy defeat of his governing Social Democratic Union in North Macedonia’s local elections.

“The responsibility for this outcome is mine and I’m resigning as prime minister and as leader of the Social Democratic Union,” Zaev said at a news conference at party headquarters.

Although official results were not yet in from the local elections, Zaev conceded defeat in the most important contest — the mayor’s race in the capital, Skopje, with incumbent Petre Shilegov losing to a center-right backed challenger, Danela Arsovska. Arsovska will become the capital’s first ever woman mayor.

Candidates supported by the main opposition party, the center-right VMRO-DPMNE, appeared set to win at least half of the country’s 80 municipalities, with the Social Democrats set to win fewer than 20. At the last municipal elections, in 2017, the Social Democrats won 57 contests and VMRO-DPMNE only five.