Unless the inquiry committee into the 24 December incident produces conclusions by Friday, a “new strategy” would be applied, according to Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski’s earlier statement, which many interpret as heralding early parliamentary elections. However, based on the party officials’ statements over the past two months, it is evident that all wish to shun elections. VMRO-DPMNE stress that they would call them only if they have to. BDI insist that time should not be wasted in this way, as SDSM is in favor of elections provided the election legislation is aligned with the recommendations of the OSCE of 2011. Nevertheless, the possibility of holding early elections is constantly in the air, Nova Makedonija comments.

When it comes to calling early parliamentary elections, there are two scenarios, the paper says. In the first and more likely one, it would be governing VMRO-DPMNE to call them. According to the second one, political parties in Parliament may regroup to form a new majority whose only purpose would be to conduct the poll. It is speculated that the second scenario would be prompted by BDI and SDSM so they would make sure the results are objective, bearing in mind SDSM’s incessant accusations that VMRO-DPMNE is pressurizing and manipulating voters, and also in order for them to try and win enough parliamentary seats to form their own governing coalition regardless of the number of votes VMRO-DPMNE polls.

According to experts, holding early parliamentary elections would be a logical follow-up in case the effort of the inquiry committee to hammer out a conclusion by Friday fails. They are nevertheless divided over whether the committee manages to do its job on time.