Winner of North Macedonia's parliamentary election to seek governing coalition partner

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — The head of a center-right 22-party coalition that emerged victorious in North Macedonia’s parliamentary election has fallen just short of gaining a parliamentary majority, leaving it reliant on entering a partnership with another party to form a government.

The “Your Macedonia” coalition, led by the head of the VMRO-DPMNE party, Hristijan Mickoski, won just over 43% of the votes in Wednesday’s election, giving it 58 of the country’s 120 parliamentary seats, three fewer than an outright majority, official results showed. Mickoski was expected to begin seeking a governing partner as early as Thursday.

“Tonight we have a reason to celebrate, but starting from tomorrow, we have a job to do,” Mickoski, 46, said late Wednesday. “I’ll hold the first meeting in the morning where we will determine the principles for the composition of a government from which we will not deviate.”