North Macedonia’s prime minister Dimitar Kovacevski submitted his resignation to parliament on Thursday, starting the process for the formation of a caretaker government that will organise presidential and general elections later this year, the government said. 

Talat Xhaferi, the ethnic Albanian speaker of parliament, will head the caretaker government, the government said in a press release. 

Kovacevski was named prime minister and leader of the ruling Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) party in 2022, replacing Zoran Zaev, who resigned after the party suffered a defeat in the local elections. SDSM agreed to the appointment of an ethnic Albanian prime minister in a caretaker cabinet as part of a deal with the Albanian Democratic Union of Integration (DUI) to form a coalition at the previous elections in 2020. 

Parliament is expected to vote on the caretaker government on Sunday, news agency Fokus reported on Thursday. 

In December 2023, the leaders of the biggest parties represented in North Macedonia's parliament agreed to hold presidential and general elections in the spring. The first round of presidential elections will be held on April 24, and the second round, along with general elections, is scheduled for May 8. 

Kovacevski said in a Facebook post after submitting his resignation that he is confident he will lead the new government after the elections and help the country become part of the European Union. 

The European Commission launched accession negotiations with North Macedonia in July 2022. Previously, the country has held EU candidate status since 2005.