Macedonia Opposition Accepts Call for Early Elections

“Snap polls are the best way to overcome the current political gridlock,” opposition leader Branko Crvenkivski said at a press conference on Monday.

But he insisted that government must first ensure they are free and fair. “Everything else would deepen and radicalize the crisis,” Crvenkovski said.

Late on Sunday, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said he would accept the opposition's calls for early elections and challenged them to compete in polls “as soon as possible”.

The Social Democrats, who began a boycott of parliament in late January, have reiterated their demands for reforms to improve the election law, clean the voter’s list of fictive voters that could be used for fraud and eliminate political interference in the judiciary.

The Social Democrats hope these reforms will be completed by April 20, after which the parliament could be dissolved and early elections called for mid June.

However, the spokesperson of the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party, Ilija Dimovski, said earlier on Monday that elections could be held as early as mid April if the opposition chooses to return to the parliament immediately.

Referring to the opposition’s demands, he said that “some have already been met and some are already in procedure”.

Crvenkovski said his party would return to the negotiation table the minute the courts, which Crvenkovski insists are in Gruevski’s hands, unfreeze the accounts of A1 TV and several other media that are critical of the government's work.

Macedonia entered political gridlock in late January, when the Social Democrats, along with several other opposition parties, left parliament. They accused Gruevski of curbing democratic freedoms, deliberately keeping the country away from NATO and the EU and failing to deliver economic recovery.

The immediate reason for the opposition boycott was a court decision to freeze the account of A1 TV, Macedonia's most popular station, whose owner is currently in detention on suspicion of financial crimes.

Various opinion polls done recently show that Gruevski’s VMRO DPMNE party has lost some support but is still considerably more popular than the opposition Social Democrats.

Observers have said that the earliest date for elections would likely be May or June. Some say the earlier the elections are held, the more likely Prime Minister Gruevski and his VMRO DPMNE are to win.

Gruevski has been in power since 2006. In snap polls called in 2008, he won a landslide victory. The next regular date for elections is in 2012.