DUI official Artan Grubi said that there will be no early general elections, and that his party is close to reaching agreement for a joint, “consensual” presidential candidate with its SDSM coalition partner. VMRO-DPMNE demanded early general elections to be held along with the presidential elections in April, and several top SDSM officials said that they may accept the challenge.

I believe that all progressive forces in the coalition and in the society are against early general elections and I believe that this issue is closed becayse we don’t want to fall in the trap of those who keep taking the wrong position since 2016. So the issue of early general elections is closed for us, and I believe it is also closed for our coalition partners, Grubi said during an interview.

VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski pointed to the ballot stuffing that was going on during the September 2018 referendum as evidence that the SDSM – DUI coalition is preparing to rig the presidential elections, and said that the only way to avoid this will be to hold early general elections at the same time, under the Przino rules which determine that key Government departments will be held by opposition representatives.

According to Grubi, SDSM and DUI leader Zoran Zaev and Ali Ahmeti, are in talks over the joint presidential candidate.

There was a meeting of our party leaders and they discussed the principle of having a consensual candidate. They agreed in principle and in the coming days there will be additional meetings on this issue. We wish to find a joint solution and a common position for a common candidate, Grubi said.