The Alternative party called on the state institutions to respond after the leaders of both ruling parties, SDSM and DUI, proudly took pictures without masks.

In the first instance, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev was with his Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce no less, and their two sons, on a mountain road trip with ATV vehicles on Mt. Belasica. Their trip came days after Zaev pledged to spent the New Year holidays at home, in his pajamas, to encourage the public to maintain social distancing.

And if this trip was in the open and the officials could be forgiven for not wearing masks, the leadership of Zaev’s main Albanian coalition partner DUI did much worse. During the opening of the new offices of the greatly expanded department led by Artan Grubi – set in a building built as part of Nikola Gruevski’s Skopje 2014 project – DUI officials celebrated the birthday of their leader Ali Ahmeti. The event was held with no social distancing, no masks, indoors. Zaev attended the inauguration of the offices, but left before the cake was brought out and the masks were taken off.

We ask Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski who does the mask mandate apply to in this country? Is it just for the common citizens, or for all citizens equally? If it is the latter, we want to hear from you that the Interior Ministry has issued fines to the individuals in these pictures. Only then you can continue fining ordinary citizens for not wearing masks, the opposition Albanian party said in a press release.