Skopje, 22 December 2021 (MIA) – Prime Minister Zoran Zaev is expected to tender his resignation later today after announcing he will step down, both as premier and leader of SDSM, due to his party’s poor performance in the October local elections. SDSM in its extraordinary elections, held on December 12, elected Dimitar Kovachevski, current deputy finance minister, to succeed Zaev as leader of the party. It is also expected Kovachevski to be the prime minister-designate. The SDSM-led coalition has secured majority in Parliament. Zaev’s resignation should be verified by Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi. According to party sources, the resignation will be verified on Thursday ahead of the Parliament’s Q&A session, Slobodent Pechat daily reported. The resignation will be tendered after President Stevo Pendarovski’s annual address in Parliament as it has been announced, government spokesman Dushko Arsovski told reporters on Wednesday. The President after the prime minister’s resignation should give a mandate to form a government to the new prime minister-designate within 10 day, according to the Constitution, which has 20 days to present the new government’s program to Parliament.