More Opposition Protests Planned in Macedonia

The announcement comes after Macedonia’s biggest opposition party, the Social Democrats, SDSM, last week called on Macedonians to come out into the streets to protest against the government's policies.

The UM protest, set for November 7, is a “mutiny against the moral and economic crisis caused by a small group of people” close to Prime Minister and VMRO DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski, Boskoski told the press.

Boskoski, who was once a high-ranking member of the VMRO DPMNE, said that his former party had strayed from its centre-right course, accusing its leaders of corruption and bad economic policies.
 
He said he expected some 30,000 people to attend the protest, which will be held in the capital Skopje.

VMRO DPMNE did not comment on Boskoski’s remarks.

Asked about possible cooperation between his party and the Social Democrats, Boskoski said he had no such plans.

Boskoski told reporters he considered Branko Crvenkovski, the head of the Social Democrats who served previously as prime minister and president of Macedonia, to be as responsible as Gruevski for the bad state in which the country finds itself.

The Social Democrats announced on October 1 that the first in a series of anti-government rallies would be held October 11.
 
The party has asked for snap polls, but only after November’s NATO summit in Lisbon. The summit is seen as another chance for Macedonia to enter NATO after the fiasco in Bucharest in 2008 when Greece blocked its entry due to the unresolved “name” dispute.

Macedonia has been stalled on its path to NATO and EU membership because of its bilateral dispute with Greece over the use of the name Macedonia.

VMRO DPMNE came to power in 2006 promising steps towards economic recovery. However, since 2008 Prime Minister Gruevski's most prominent stance has been his hard line policy on the name issue.

Various opinion polls show that his popularity, although in decline, is still unmatched by his rivals.