The unblocking of the accounts of A1 television and the other firms in Pero Nakov Street inspired at least a little hope that a way out of the political crisis, created after SDSM and the other opposition parties except LDP walked out of Parliament, will be found. The early elections are talked about increasingly more as the only logical solution although a few conditions should be met before calling them unless the government wishes to face a boycott from SDSM. May or early June are said to be the deadlines for holding the elections, Dnevnik reports.
Another spark of hope that the political crisis will be overcome soon came Tuesday from the decision of the political system committee at the request of Silvana Boneva from VMRO-DPMNE to stop the debate concerning the lustration law considering that, as she explained, the law should be passed by consensus and not in the absence of the opposition MPs. In addition, Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska, Justice Minister Mihajlo Manevski and State Election Commission President Aleksandar Novakovski held a press conference at which they said the voters’ list had been revised. This was one of the conditions set by SDSM, although the Social Democrats demanded that its revision be made under parliamentary surveillance.
SDSM does not consider the decision of the Basic Court Skopje 1 enough for them to stop the boycott and say they would state their future steps once the final outcome is known. SDSM leader Crvenkovski denied the allegations that SDSM in fact did not want early elections and therefore set conditions. He claims that if there was will from all sides, their demand could be met in a short time and elections could be called immediately afterward.
According to unconfirmed information, at the leaders’ meeting with President Ivanov, Crvenkovski reiterated a few times that SDSM would boycott the early elections unless the demands that the opposition set for overcoming the crisis were met.
Although the two largest governing parties, VMRO-DPMNE and BDI, say they are ready for elections, they are seriously concerned by SDSM’s threats of boycott. Both parties say the boycott of the elections is going to prove damaging for the country in the long run. VMRO-DPMNE stresses that if Crvenkovski realizes his threats, a bad practice will be set up for the future. Nikola Gruevski’s party is aware that the opposition boycott will be a blow against them too, as a governing party, which after all is the most responsible for the election process.
“We are encouraged that the international representatives are condemning the boycott. We hope they would not approve of SDSM’s boycott of the next elections,” a senior VMRO-DPMNE official said.
BDI leader Ali Ahmeti hopes that through dialogue SDSM and the other opposition parties are going to stop the boycott. He regards the early elections as one of the possible solutions provided all parties take part. Ahmeti considers all SDSM demands legitimate yet believes they should be debated in Parliament.
“It’s not good to have elections without the opposition. Elections are held by consensus,” Ahmeti said.
He met Tuesday with LDP leader Jovan Manasijevski and both appealed to the opposition to return to Parliament because in their view all issues should be discussed there.
Manasijevski is hopeful that the decision of the court to unblock the accounts of A1 television and the other media in Pero Nakov Street will help overcome the crisis.
“Now Gruevski and Crvenkovski should not waste time and should meet immediately to address the other conditions for restoring normalcy in institutions,” he said.
SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE did not state Tuesday how they would seek a way out of the present situation, either at a new meeting of the leaders of only a few parties organized by the prime minister or at a tete-a-tete meeting between Gruevski and Crvenkovski.
