[3] Previously, in February 2019 the country formally changed its name from Macedonia to North Macedonia to resolve a longstanding dispute with Greece that blocked it from joining the European Union and NATO,[4] after high level talks between Prime Minister Zaev and his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras throughout 2018 led to the Prespa Agreement signed on 17 June 2018.

[9] In response to the European Council's decision, it was announced by Zaev that early parliamentary elections would be held on 12 April 2020.

[16] Both Zaev's Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) and the right-wing opposition VMRO-DPMNE, which opposes parts of the Prespa Agreement—notably the name change to North Macedonia—began campaigning by early October 2019 as it seemed there would be a snap election.

The SDSM campaign emphasised the party's role in the country's Euro-Atlantic integration, including resolving the dispute with Greece and securing NATO membership.

The Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), which is the largest Albanian party in N. Macedonia and has been part of most government coalitions since the 2002 elections, announced its candidacy early on.

[27] The head of the election commission, Oliver Derkoski, commented that the voting day passed calmly and only sporadic instances of irregularities were reported.

Ljupco Nikolovski, the secretary-general of SDSM, commended the polls, saying "Today we had a calm, dignifying, and from health perspective, a safe day."

[30] OSCE said that the elections were generally well-run and candidates could campaign freely, but legal stability was undermined by significant changes to electoral framework.

[31] The election resulted in an extremely divided parliament, with the pro-EU SDSM-led coalition winning a plurality of votes and seats.

The BDI made its participation in any coalition contingent on the nominee for Prime Minister being an ethnic Albanian, which both the SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE have refused.

[36] On 18 August the SDSM and BDI announced that they had reached a deal on a coalition government as well as a compromise on the issue of an ethnic Albanian Prime Minister.

Under the deal, SDSM leader Zoran Zaev will be installed as Prime Minister, and will serve in that position until no later than 100 days from the next parliamentary elections (Rotation government).