The ruling SDSM party issued a press release demanding that elections take place as soon as possible. This echoes recent comments from top SDSM officials such as Radmila Sekerinska and Oliver Spasovski, with the similar message, that fly in the face of the difficult coronavirus situation in the country.

By force of law elections take place 22 days after the state of emergency expires, and that means elections on July 5. No extension is possible, from the point of law or justice. Any other date would intrude in the summer season and would endanger the right to vote because it violates the right to a summer vacation, SDSM said.

Polls taken before the latest Ramadan linked spike in coronavirus cases have shown that voters are very unwilling to go to the polls in the midst of an epidemic. SDSM apparently hopes that a low turnout election would favor them as a ruling party and demanded the elections take place as early as June 21. Now the party is pushing for July 5 , even though the opposition insists that such “corona elections” will end up costing lives and reigniting the epidemic.