Macedonian Leaders to Discuss Election Date

PM Gruevski can call snap polls even without the opposition's consent | Photo by: Balkan Insight

Both Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of the centre-right VMRO DPMNE party and his bitter rival Branko Crvenkovski from the opposition Social Democrats insist on early elections to end the current political logjam caused by the opposition’s boycott of the parliament, which began in January.

However, opposition accusations that Gruevski's party may commit fraud in the next poll by organising the elections under its own rules have postponed agreement on the exact date.

“The chances for success [at the forthcoming meeting] are big if both parties show flexibility,” Marko Trosanovski, a political analyst from the Skopje based Institute for Democracy NGO says.

The Social Democrats have said that as a token of good will they are no longer conditioning the talks for setting a date with the unfreezing of the bank account of A1 TV, a pro-opposition media outlet that accuses Gruevski of trying to shut its broadcasts down.

“This is a helpful approach,” Trosanovski said.

The owner of A1, along with several of his associates, have been held in custody since December on suspicion that they committed large-scale financial crimes, and a court ordered the freezing of the TV's accounts in January. The opposition argues that the government is behind the court decision.

Despite this initial concession, the Social Democrats say the unfreezing of the A1 account, along with several other demands, must be met if the government hopes to avoid an election boycott from the opposition.

The party demands better control of party spending on campaign advertisements, the removal of the deceased from the electoral roll and improvements to the electoral laws.

The ruling party, meanwhile, has insisted that all opposition demands have been met or will be met shortly. Confident in their election victory, they say Crvenkovski is just trying to buy time by setting preconditions for his participation in the polls.

The VMRO DPMNE initially opted for elections in late April or May, while the Social Democrats said it would take at least until June to carry out the necessary reforms for fair elections.

The first direct meeting between Gruevski and Crvenkovski comes after the opposition left the parliament in late January, complaining of a democracy deficit and threats to media freedom, as well as unsatisfactory economic results and stalled efforts to join NATO and EU since VMRO DPMNE came to power in 2006.

“The very fact that both leaders agreed to meet in person is a positive sign,” Professor Lazar Lazarov says. He argues that both sides have harmed the country enough with their “childish” quarrels in the past few weeks.

Last month both heads attended a meeting along with the political leaders of the smaller parties. However, nothing came out of the meeting as the politicians crammed the agenda with their lists of demands.

The VMRO DPMNE has enough legislators in the parliament to call snap polls even without the consent of the opposition.