Macedonia political deadlock deepens over gov't forming

The political deadlock in Macedonia continues to deepen after President Gjorge Ivanov rejected to mandate the formation of a new government led by the Social Democratic Union (SDSM).

While the party VMRO­-DPMNE led by Nikola Gruevski, which owns most parliamentary seats, Saturday called on SDSM leader Zoran Zaev to accept their proposal of holding new snap elections, SDSM calls for a swift power transfer.

Macedonia held snap general elections on Dec. 11, 2016. The VMRO-DPMNE party secured 51 seats, the SDSM got 49, and the DUI obtained 10 in the new parliament.

With the most votes, the VMRO-DPMNE was mandated to form a government, but failed the mission within a deadline.

Thus, it's the SDSM's turn to make the attempt after it reached an agreement with ethnic Albanian parties.

However, President Ivanov on Wednesday refused to grant SDSM leader Zaev a mandate, claiming his government would support "a platform undermining Macedonia's sovereignty."

Ethnic Albanian parties, which emerged as the kingmaker after the last polls, have met Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and created a joint platform with demands, including making Albanian an official language.

VMRO-DPMNE said Saturday in a press release that the citizens in Macedonia didn't vote for a platform that was drafted in a neighboring country but voted for another platform which didn't aim at making Macedonia a bilingual, bi-national state.

In the statement, Gruevksi said VMRO-DPMNE would support Zaev to form the new government if he turned down the ethnic Albanian parties' platform which foresees the making of Albanian language as the second official language in Macedonia.

But, SDSM reacted saying that the calls for fresh elections represented an attempt to delay and deepen the political crisis.

The democratic processes have begun and the majority will of citizens shown through the 67 parliamentary seats must be reflected through the formation of a new government, SDSM said in a press release also on Saturday.

According to SDSM, if the majority will of citizens was not respected this time, it wouldn't be taken into consideration even if new elections were held.

SDSM highlighted the country's need for a swift and peaceful power transfer that would pave the way to country's progress towards its integration in EU and NATO.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), the largest ethnic Albanian party here, has unanimously decided to support SDSM and take part in the formation of the new government, sources from the party said on Saturday.

DUI leader Ali Ahmeti called on President Ivanov to reassess his decision not to give the mandate to SDSM leader Zoran Zaev over the government formation, saying a government vote in the Parliament would be an option if the president still failed to give the mandate.

Source: Xinhua