Skopje, 1 November 2023 (MIA) — A caretaker government will be formed 100 days ahead of the parliamentary election, but it is up to Parliament to set the election date, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said Wednesday in response to reporters after an event held to mark National Insurance Day.

PM Kovachevski noted that President Stevo Pendarovski's first term was nearing its end as was this Parliament's term. But when both elections would be held, he said, was to be decided by lawmakers.

"The public will be informed when Parliament reaches an agreement on the exact timing. Parliament will have to make that decision, and the Parliament Speaker calls the election," Kovacevski said.

According to him, religious holidays observed in spring should be taken into account when setting the date.

"The election date will be set within the legal timeline," Kovachevski said. "Considering that our law binds us to form a caretaker government, this will happen 100 days before the parliamentary election."

In response to a question if SDSM was in talks with DUI to form a coalition in the presidential or parliamentary elections, the SDSM leader said the political parties would let the public know as soon as they made any such decision. mr/