Macedonia's main opposition party VMRO-DPMNE filed a non-confidence motion against the Social Democrat-led government on April 8, accusing the government of crime, corruption and creating a poor economic situation. VMRO also accused the government of incompetence, raising indebtedness and failing to attract foreign investments.

The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) and the DUI, supported by another small ethnic Albanian party, have a slim majority of 62 MPs in the 120-seat parliament. VMRO-DPMNE would need 61 votes for the motion to be successful.

The vote is scheduled for April 11. “On Wednesday I expect the parliament to pass the no-confidence motion against the government so we will be able to organise early parliamentary elections,” VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski was cited by broadcaster 24vesti.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev is planning a government reshuffle and the possible expansion of the ruling majority in the parliament to include more parties. The issue of the reshuffle was raised after Justice Minister Bilen Saliji from the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI),  a coalition partner of Zaev's SDSM, resigned in March following public criticism over a case concerning a four-year-old boy, who died two years ago after being hit by a car

When the coalition came to power in spring 2017, after the conservative VMRO-DPMNE’s 10 years in office, it looked very fragile, but having initiated numerous reforms and won convincingly in the October 2017 local elections, Zaev is now looking to strengthen his position.