Besa leader Bilall Kasami [L] and Democratic Movement leader Izet Mexhiti [R], heads of two of the four parties forming VLEN, at a 2024 local election rally. Photo: VLEN.

The ethnic Albanian VLEN [It’s Worth It] alliance, the junior partner in North Macedonia’s government, said on Thursday that it is taking a major step towards consolidating into one party with the same name.

The development comes after the last of the four political forces that make up the alliance, the Alternativa [Alternative] party, green-lit unification on Thursday. The process of unification “is entering a key phase with bold and irreversible decisions for formation of a unified political subject”, VLEN said.

The other three parties in the alliance, the Besa Movement, led by Bilall Kasami, the Democratic Movement, led by Izet Mexhiti, and the Alliance for Albanians, led by Arben Feta, had already agreed to work for unification.

The alliance’s transformation into a single party could potentially strengthen its position within the VMRO DPMNE party-led government of Hristijan Mickoski. It could also consolidate its standing against its main ethnic Albanian rival, the opposition Democratic Union for Integration, DUI.

The VLEN bloc was formed ahead of the 2024 general elections by four parties opposed to the then long-standing junior ruling DUI, which had for years dominated Albanian politics in the multi-ethnic country.

Despite winning slightly fewer votes in the election than the DUI, VLEN replaced the DUI in the new government led by Mickoski as the junior partner.

The DUI has since accused VLEN of being an “illegitimate” representative of Albanians, who make up roughly one-quarter of North Macedonia’s 1.8 million people.

VLEN first announced plans for unification last year. However, it was shaken by the defection into the opposition of one of its four founding leaders, Arben Taravari, who took a chunk of the Alliance for Albanians with him. Another wing of the Alliance for Albanians stayed with VLEN.

Despite that, VLEN passed a major test in last autumn’s local elections, when it held its own against the DUI, which had framed the elections as a de facto referendum among Albanians on VLEN’s record. It nevertheless won more and larger municipalities than the DUI, although still winning fewer overall votes.

It is not yet known which if any of the current party leaders in VLEN would lead a unified party – or when they plan to make unification official. VLEN has insisted that the priority is setting up the new party’s structures on a firm basis.