After the resignation of Branko Crvenkovski from the leadership of the centre-left Social Democratic Union of Macedonia in 2013, Zaev was appointed the new party leader.

He signed the Prespa agreement with Greece, resolving a long-standing dispute over the country name, which led to the accession protocol of North Macedonia to NATO.

[3] In his youth, Zaev spent several summers at the market in the Serbian town of Gornji Milanovac, selling agricultural products from Strumica.

[5] Following the 2016 parliamentary election, Zaev formed a coalition government with support from the Democratic Union for Integration and the Alliance for Albanians in May 2017.

In that role, Zaev took part in June 2015 in a meeting with Gruevski and Johannes Hahn, the European Union's enlargement commissioner, in order to overcome the political crisis.

The negotiations resulted in the Pržino Agreement, which foresaw a caretaker government to organize a snap election in April 2016 and a Special Public Prosecution to investigate the wiretaps scandal.

[17][18][19] Shortly after Zaev's statement, a promotional banner of Danela Arsovska was vandalized with the word 'Petrich', a Bulgarian city being plastered on top.

[27][28][29] What Zaev was recorded as saying on the original video interview of the Bulgarian newspaper BGNES was "I want to send a message to all the citizens of Bulgaria.

In June in a meeting with Zaev in Sofia, PM Boyko Borisov said Bulgaria would back Macedonia's bid to join the European Union and NATO and would also sign a long-delayed friendship treaty with it.

During the last years in Opposition and also in his inauguration speech, the new prime minister Zoran Zaev vowed his determination to resolve the decades-old dispute with Greece.

[50] On 30 July, the parliament of Macedonia approved plans to hold a non-binding referendum on changing the country's name that took place on 30 September.

[52] The amendment entered into force following the ratification of the Prespa agreement and the Protocol of Accession of North Macedonia to NATO by the Greek Parliament.

During the 2016 Macedonian parliamentary election, he supported the Albanian parties and the Tirana-Platform, which was an agreement between SDSM, DUI and BESA made in Tirana, Albania.

Zaev managed to win the elections in North Macedonia however the President Gjorge Ivanov did not accept him as a new prime minister.

Ivanov said he refused to give a mandate to form the country's new government to SDSM leader Zoran Zaev - who reached a coalition agreement with ethnic Albanian parties.

He refuses to give such a mandate "to anyone who negotiates platforms of foreign countries that blackmail the Macedonian people, jeopardizes the integrity of the state, its sovereignty and independence.

[60][61] On 10 October 2019, together with Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia, and Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania, Zaev signed the so-called Mini Schengen deal on regional economic cooperation, including on the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour between their three countries, while they await progress on EU enlargement.

[62] A month later, the leaders presented a set of proposals to achieve the "four freedoms" and the first steps towards them, including the possibility to the open border area.

On 18 August, the SDSM and DUI 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).

[67] On 31 October 2021, shortly after Skopje local election results were revealed, Zaev announced that he will be stepping down as the prime minister of North Macedonia and as president of SDSM.