Macedonia's parliament elected the new government of the rightist party VMRO-DPMNE, state news agency MIA reported. VMRO-DPMNE has been in power since 2006, and this is its fourth government over this period. The party’s leader Nikola Gruevski is the new PM, after heading the previous three governments as well. The new government was supported by 77 lawmakers, while six voted against. The PM and the cabinet members were sworn in.

We remind that VMRO-DPMNE won 61 seats in the parliament at the early general elections held on April 27. Ethnic Albanian junior coalition partner DUI won 19 seats. This gives the two parties a solid majority in the country’s 123-seat parliament. We also remind that last month some 33 lawmakers from the biggest opposition party SDSM and its coalition partners submitted their resignations to Macedonia’s parliament.

Zoran Stavreski has kept his position of finance minister in the new cabinet, which will guarantee continuity in the Balkan country’s fiscal policy. Other reappointments by VMRO-DPMNE include the ministers of interior, foreign affairs, health, culture, transport and communications, information society and administration, as well as labour and social policy. The ministry of defence is now headed by Zoran Jolevski, the negotiator in the name issue talks with Greece, and also Macedonia’s ambassador to the USA. The Socialist Party, also a junior coalition partner of VMRO-DPMNE, continues to control the ministry of agriculture, but has changed the minister.

DUI has received one new ministry – the ministry of education, in exchange for giving up the ministry of defence. DUI also heads the ministries of justice, economy, local self-government, and environment and urban planning. Former minister of environment Abdilaqim Ademi is Macedonia’s new minister of education. The ethnic Albanian party has new people for all of its other ministries.

The new government has as many as 10 ministers without portfolio, up from five in the previous cabinet. Notably, there are no deputy PMs in the new cabinet, which compares with four in the previous one. One of the previous deputy PMs, Zoran Stavreski, has kept his position as finance minister. The other three, Vladimir Pesevski, Fatmir Besimi and Musa Xhaferi, are now ministers without portfolio.