North Macedonia’s president Stevo Pendarovski on Friday handed parliament speaker Talat Xhaferi a mandate to form a caretaker government following the resignation of prime minister Dimitar Kovacevski, Xhaferi said.

Parliament is expected to vote on the caretaker government on Sunday.

Xhaferi is set to become the first ethnic Albanian to assume the role of caretaker prime minister. Jovan Mitreski will temporarily take over his role as parliament speaker until the elections, North Macedonia's assembly said in a press release earlier on Friday.

The main political parties agreed in December to hold general elections on May 8, two months early. The general elections will coincide with the second round of presidential elections.

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

North Macedonia began talks to join the EU in 2022. To meet requirements, it must meet certain criteria, including amending its constitution to acknowledge a Bulgarian minority, a highly disputed issue in the country.