The two largest political parties, VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM, will have to meet and discuss the political situation in the country before the local elections on 24 March, experts say in  view of the fact that for three weeks there has  been no initiative from the main political stakeholders for resolution of the political crisis. In their view, the gridlock created by SDSM’s insistence on holding early parliamentary elections as a condition for their running in the local elections may be overcome provided VMRO-DPMNE as a party most trusted by the citizens initiates talks irrespective of whether in or out of institutions.

“A meeting at a party level has to be initiated first considering the parties act based on their political platforms, which are crucial in polling votes. The level at which this meeting occurs is less relevant. What matters though is that there are guarantees that what is agreed upon will be put into practice. If parties wish to demonstrate that they are very serious, it is their leaders that should appear at that meeting. The initiative for talks should come from Nikola Gruevski, leader of VMRO-DPMNE, the political party that won the last elections and is most trusted based on all opinion polls,” sociology professor Gjorgji Tonovski comments.