It is difficult to overstate the scale of the electoral sweep of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev’s Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) party in the October 15th municipal elections. Former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski’s party, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), lost power at the local level across the country. Zaev’s victory, and that of his SDSM, following the June assembly of the coalition which included all ethnic Albanian parties, will reinforce the Zaev government’s control – and political responsibility.