The Parliament of North Macedonia dismissed two ministers from the ranks of the Alliance for Albanians (ASH) on Friday night after they had supported the party’s proposal to join the Albanian opposition bloc – the European Alliance for Change – in the May elections.
The dismissal of Health Minister Fatmir Mexhiti and Minister of Administration and Information Society Azir Aliu has resulted in tensions and numerous controversies between the ruling parties and the opposition.
In the justification for their dismissal, the technical Prime Minister, Talat Xhaferi, said, “There are no objections to the work and professionalism of Ministers Mexhiti and Aliu, but after their joining with Arben Taravari, they must leave, as two opposition entities cannot be in the Government”.
The technical Government, which has a mandate of 100 days to organize and conduct the upcoming parliamentary elections, includes the Macedonian opposition led by VMRO-DPMNE.
Dismissed Minister Fatmir Mexhiti accused the ruling parties of “initiating his dismissal for political interests” and stated that, according to him, the Democratic Union for Integration (BDI) stands behind this decision.
The dismissal of the ministers comes ten days after the formation of the technical Government on January 28.
In their place, Ilir Demiri is expected to be appointed as Minister of Health and Naim Bajrami as Minister of Administration and Information Society on Monday, February 12.
The session was called by Prime Minister Talat Xhaferi after a party commission of the Alliance for Albanians, which is part of the technical Government, proposed the dismissal of its two ministers.
The decision was made after the two ministers publicly expressed support for the chairman of ASH, Arben Taravari, to move to the opposition.
However, this prompted a reaction from a faction of the party led by its former chairman, Ziadin Sela, the current chairman of the party’s Assembly.
He called the Assembly for Saturday, February 10, to establish responsibility but also to start the procedure for Taravari’s dismissal from the party.
However, Taravari said that Sela did not have the support of the Assembly members, as many of them had supported his stance to form a coalition with the opposition.
The division in ASH has also been reflected in the Parliament of North Macedonia.
The session started three hours late as the ruling parties could not secure the necessary number of deputies for its start, which was also evidenced by the voting, resulting in a simple majority of 62 deputies.
