Negotiations between the four political parties leaders’ failed late last night, which were held in Przhino in mediation with the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, US Ambassador Jess Bailey, EU Ambassador Orav and Belgian facilitator Peter Vanhoutte.
The four main parties were unable to agree on a date for early parliamentary elections. VMRO-DPMNE, DUI and DPA all agreed that elections should be held on April 24, while SDSM were against it because they consider that they’re not conditions for free and fair elections at this time.
After the leaders’ meeting, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said that he would not accept the SDSM leader Zoran Zaev’s request for postponing the elections and that from tomorrow they will have wider party and social consultations in the coming days and will announce their next steps.
“At today’s meeting Zoran Zaev came with demands and insisted that we delay elections. Tonight we could not discuss the media, or the revision of the voter lists because Zaev did not want to. He kept insisting that we all accept that it is good thing to postpone the elections. He spent more than 12 hours of our time, and other political parties and the international community so he could plead he case about postponing the elections scheduled for April 24. What we do not understand is why he does it, because he knows he will lose. However, it is unacceptable and irresponsible and such a thing can only be done by an irresponsible man. He wants to bring the state to an even greater crisis”, said Gruevski.
