North Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has resigned as leader of the Social Democrats (SDSM) following a defeat in local elections last month.
The party's senior committees have accepted his resignation, according to a report on Macedonian news website plusinfo.mk, citing an SDSM spokesperson.
A vote to select Zaev's successor will be held on December 12, with the winner also replacing Zaev as prime minister.
Zaev announced his intention to resign as prime minister and party leader after the SDSM's defeat in the local elections at the end of October.
Finance Minister Dimitar Kovacevski is the current favorite to win the vote, according to local media reports.
However, a new prime minister also requires parliamentary approval before taking office, and this doesn't look like a foregone conclusion.
Zaev was prime minister from May 2017 until January 2020 and then again since August 2020. He is chiefly known for settling the country's long-running dispute with its neighbor Greece over the name Macedonia, which is also the name of a region of Greece. Zaev proposed and won a 2018 referendum on changing the country's name to North Macedonia in order to begin EU accession negotiations.
