Macedonia is just a step away from the abyss. It is sinking deeper into a state of despair and therefore you should start acting not on behalf of your party but on behalf of the citizens and let them decide in elections in what direction they wish their country to continue, SDSM parliamentary coordinator Cvetanka Ivanova said at the parliamentary session Monday, explaining the opposition proposal for dissolution of Parliament.
VMRO-DPMNE considers the appeal for early elections an ordinary bluff made up by Branko Crvenkovski who tries to cover up the affair “Hope” in which he is personally involved, as well as the affair “Pero Nakov bb” implicating the owner of A1 television Velija Ramkovski to whom Crvenkovski proposed being the future prime minister at a meeting in Ohrid. The MPs of the governing majority believe that while SDSM are calling for early elections, they in fact do not want elections.
“Macedonia has been going along a wrong path for five years. Instead of taking a hundred steps of rebirth, we have taken a hundred steps back,” Ivanova said, reiterating that this government might be legal but was not legitimate.
Zoran Petreski from VMRO-DPMNE replied that since 1990 there had not been either a more legal or a more legitimate government.
“You are a part of the Macedonian people, but a part that is very small and do not mistake the wish of your members for the wish of the citizens,” Petreski said.
Xhevad Ademi from BDI emphasized that people did not want early elections but a solution to the name issue and integration into NATO and the EU. In his view, the Macedonian political elite, including the opposition, does not have courage to solve the name issue.
According to Andrej Zernovski from LDP, SDSM’s initiative has two objectives; one is to overthrow Gruevski, which they support, and the other is to bring Crvenkovski to power, which they object to.
“This uneasy situation in Macedonia is a result of Gruevski’s incapacity to keep his promises and is also a result of Crvenkovski’s inability to restore himself to power. They are the two sides of the same coin,” he said, explaining that depending on their positions they both use identical arguments, citing as evidence their interviews for Dnevnik now and back in 1998.
Zernovski’s words infuriated the MPs of SDSM who started voicing disagreement from their seats, suggesting that LDP should finally decide what side they are on.
