Via vice president Gordan Georgiev, opposition SDSM said Wednesday that they would definitely boycott the local elections in March. The modifications they called for in a number of segments as a condition for them to run in the elections applied until Monday (December 24) when the incident in and out of Parliament occurred and no longer apply, Georgiev said.

“Any regulations and any voters’ lists become irrelevant in the context of what happened on December 24. This government is unable to hold fair elections and therefore we are not going to run,” Georgiev explained.

This decision is both surprising and expected, experts say, considering SDSM set a few demands, which the opposition itself knew to be unreal and which the government accepted nevertheless. Aware of the election defeat they are sure to suffer in March, it is logical for them to shun an agreement with the government and consider the boycott of elections as the best solution, experts say.