(1 Jun 2017) Macedonia's parliament elected a new centre-left coalition government led by former opposition leader Zoran Zaev late on Wednesday, ending a six-month political stalemate.
Lawmakers voted 62-44 just before midnight to confirm a 26-member Cabinet proposed by Zaev, who leads the Social Democrats party.
Five lawmakers abstained and nine were absent.
Zaev, 42, was sworn in as prime minister by the parliament's speaker immediately after the vote.
The businessman and former mayor of Strumica formed an alliance with two small ethnic Albanian parties to control 62 of parliament's 120 seats, after his party finished second in December elections, which produced a hung parliament.
Former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's conservative party won the elections but fell short of a parliamentary majority.
About a quarter of Macedonia's population is ethnic Albanian, and inter-ethnic tensions brought the former Yugoslav republic close to civil war in 2001.
Under the coalition deal, nine Cabinet portfolios are held by ethnic Albanians, including the economy, justice and European integration posts.
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