Six months after the Przhino Agreement, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski yesterday for the first time used the term “resignation” which, according to the Agreement should be submitted before January 15, when the Provisional Government should be elected, which is 100 days before the elections in April.
Gruevski’s vocabulary and terms have changed as the date for the election of the Provisonal government becomes closer. First he said that he will do “nothing“, then he said “the agreement will be respected,” then came statements such as these are “reforms” and that he would “step down“. It was only yesterday, when he used the term “resignation” for the first time.
Here’s how Gruevski’s terminology has evolved in the past few months:
- On December 26, when asked by the media whether he would resign on January 10, he briefly said: “The Agreement is that a Provisional Government will be elected on January 16 and the agreement will be honoured”.
- In his New Year speech, he said that the April elections will be fair and democratic, and the reformed election law will guarantee fair elections, according to which “if the Prime Minister decides to run again at elections, he would have to step down.”
“The reformed electoral law is the first time they have been changed. So, from now on, and for all future elections, the Prime Minister will step down for a short period of time until the parliamentary elections, to ensure that he will have an executive function , and there would be some advantage in winning the trust of the voters. I am the first person to support this reform because I believe in the people of this country and do not want to allow any person’s alibi to be used as an escape from confronting the people”, Gruevski said in his New Year speech.
Then, yesterday the Prime Minister directly announced “on January 15 a new Government will be elected with a Prime Minister for the conduct of elections. Previously, of course, I will announce my resignation.”
That most recent speculation has come from journalist Mirka Velinovska, she believes that the PM’s seat is being kept warm for the current Minister of Defence Zoran Jolevski.
“Do not think that people will be staring into space if they announce that the future technical Prime Minister will be Zoran Jolevski, who considers his own supreme commander like John McCain who tidied up Ukraine, encouraged ISIS and promoted Al Qaeda as American infantry.” wrote Mirka Velinovska, concluding that the there would be a reaction from the public if the Defence Minster is chosen to succeed Nikola Gruevski as Prime Minister.
If we put aside speculation of the type that the new prime minister will be someone close and trustworthy to Gruevski and their immediate circle, only a few names have turned up so far in political circles that, through social networks and in casual conversations, are worthy to replace a Prime Minister, who after 10 years has been forced to step down.
Names which have been mentioned frequently are Foreign Minister Nikola Popovski, who, on the other hand, is a member of the leadership of the VMRO-DPMNE and then there’s the Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Fatmir Besimi.
Also, among political circles names such as MP Antonio Milososki and the Ministers of Health and Finance, Nikola Todorovand Zoran Stavreski are being dismissed.
However, this is all political speculation and we should not exclude the possibility that all these speculations are there to draw the attention away from the right person.
