Mile Cekov has left the ZNAM parliamentary group. As of today he's an independent MP. This isn't sudden. This isn't accidental. It's the result of more than a year of reserved attitude toward the politics of his own party.

The 34-year-old economist from Strumica entered parliament in 2024, in the elections ZNAM marketed as "a clean return to principles". Last year Cekov publicly said the Bulgarians should be included in the Constitution - a statement that inside ZNAM was read as "stepping out of line".

Now, on his way out, Cekov listed the catalogue of current political weights in Macedonia: corruption, selective justice, dysfunctional institutions, unresolved social and economic questions, reforms that don't happen. That sounds familiar. The opposition parties say nearly the same thing. So do citizens. So do the neighbours on your street.

From ZNAM the message is that his departure "is no surprise". This is the standard political language for: we knew, we didn't react, and now we can say we knew. But the question that stays open is: why does a party stretching itself across the slogan ZNAM - "for our path" - have an MP thinking in different categories from its own programme?

Cekov now holds the "independent" status - in a parliament that already has several independent MPs. It's a status that politically gives little leverage, but psychologically gives maximum freedom. No obligations to a party diktat. No price for discipline. Just one's own voice and one's own accountability to the voters.

The Balkans know this dynamic. A young MP, concrete positions, unprepared for party discipline. They usually end up either in opposition, or in a new party, or withdrawn from politics. So far Cekov has shown no sign of any of the three. Maybe it's a sign of something new. Or simply of the fact that even in North Macedonia "independent MP" still means something.