After the leaders’ meeting yesterday, SDSM leader Zoran Zaev said that in fact the elections have been scheduled, and VMRO-DPMNE is only trying to buy time.
VMRO-DPMNE denies these comments and says that the elections cannot be declared, when there is no agreement on a date, and the date primarily depends on three factors: Assessment of the health condition of the Committee for Infectious Diseases, opinion from the SEC for action and preparation for elections, as well as providing OSCE and ODIHR election observers who will provide full coverage and monitoring of the mission.
“It is completely untrue that Zaev and Spasovski claim that the election campaign continued where they left off last time after the declaration of a state of emergency. This cannot be due to the fact that both agreed that the SEC should give its assessment of the time required to prepare for the elections, provided that there is a green light from the Commission on Infectious Diseases that there are conditions for a smooth campaign and objectively the necessary time for the SEC. for cleaning the voter list, organizing the election activities themselves and the conditions that need to be provided. That deadline is at least sixty days from the day of the announcement of the elections,” said VMRO-DPMNE.
VMRO-DPMNE does not agree with Zaev’s claim that the lifting of the state of emergency will mean the immediate beginning of the election period. It cannot be interpreted that way, and it is an illegal interpretation of the Electoral Code.
