VMRO-DPMNE accused the UJP tax authority of abusing its power to pressure small businesses in Ohrid, Prilep and Bitola over the past few days.

Teams of politically handpicked agents are on the ground, and go after small businesses, while ignoring the larger, more powerful ones. The leader of this push is Aleksandar Gjorgioski, head of the SDSM youth organization in Prilep and a UJP employee. We are talking about small neighborhood shops that are being closed with a political bias, the opposition party said.

The Government is limiting the profit margin retailers can include in the price in an attempt to rein in inflation, especially in food prices, and is now using inspectors and tax agents to enforce the measure. SDSM lost the local elections in a landslide, losing mayoral seats in all three cities named in the VMRO press release, and VMRO says that now the ruling party is lashing out against the voters.