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| - North Macedonia's former premier Zoran Zaev has 20 days to forge a new government after receiving a mandate Thursday following his party's razor-thin election win in a country prone to political crises. Zaev's Social Democrats, who put the Balkan state on an EU-path by adding "North" to its name last year to resolve a bitter row with Greece, edged out their nationalist rivals in the July snap poll. But with only 46 of the 120 seats in parliament, Zaev's party now faces complex coalition talks to build a majority. In a brief ceremony with President Stevo Pendarovski, Zaev said he was "honoured" to receive the "mandate for a democratic, politically accountable and European government with institutions that will serve the citizens". But his confidence belies the tough challenge ahead: striking an alliance with DUI, the ethnic Albanian party that won 15 seats and is key to securing a ruling majority. One of the core obstacles is the DUI's demand to put an ethnic Albanian in the Prime Minister's seat, which was the main platform of its election campaign. Albanians make up around a quarter of the 1.8 million population of North Macedonia and have long complained of economic and social discrimination. In a statement Thursday, DUI leader Ali Ahmeti said his party was not ready to back down from the demand, which Zaev had earlier dismissed as "blackmail". "We are open for a debate, why not an Albanian for prime minister?" Ahmeti said. "This issue is open, and I will say that as much as we are close, we are also far from an agreement", he added. If Zaev fails to forge an alliance, the task will fall to the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party which finished second with 44 seats. Under former strongman Nikola Gruevski, the party dominated the small Balkan country for almost a decade until they were ousted by the Social Democrats in 2016. Gruevski has since fled to Hungary to escape a corruption conviction. str-ssm/pvh
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