Republished April 11, 2018 - 3:07 PM
Original Publication Date April 11, 2018 - 4:51 AM
SKOPJE, Macedonia - Macedonia's government late Wednesday easily survived a no-confidence motion initiated by the conservative opposition, which accused it of failing to control corruption or halt economic stagnation.
In a vote just before midnight, all 62 lawmakers from the left-led governing coalition in the 120-seat parliament rejected the motion and 40 opposition lawmakers backed it.
The conservative VMRO-DPMNE party claimed that the 11-month-old government has turned the country's institutions and judiciary to its own benefit.
Prime Minister Zoran Zaev countered that his government inherited significant problems from VMRO-DPMNE, which ruled Macedonia during 2006-2016.
Struggling to boost an $11 billion economy after a decade of flat growth, Macedonia has been rattled by successive political crises, marked by intense rivalry between the conservatives and Zaev's Social Democrats.
During Wednesday's 11-hour debate, VMRO-DPMNE's parliamentary co-ordinator Dragan Danev alleged that Zaev leads "the most incompetent ... and certainly the most criminal government" in Macedonia's history.
Zaev is trying to resolve a long-standing dispute with neighbour Greece over the former Yugoslav republic's name. Negotiations resume Thursday when the foreign ministers of the two countries meet at the lakeside resort of Ohrid.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018