North Macedonia starts 2026 with a clear political landscape. Following the autumn local elections, the governing coalition, and especially the main ruling centre-right VMRO DPMNE party of Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, has strengthened its position and has consolidated power at both national and municipal levels.
As the government moves into its third of its four-year mandate, it has an unusually open field to shape the political agenda and set priorities, with few immediate institutional constraints.
This dominance, however, brings a different kind of problem. The political imbalance between VMRO DPMNE and the main opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, who are still struggling to recover from electoral setbacks, has grown so pronounced that the traditional dynamics of correction are weakened.
This year will likely serve as a critical test of the government’s political intent, political observers say.