Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said Thursday SDSM is fine with holding the elections on October 17, as the opposition requires, if all parties agree to this, adding he had given the proposal to hold the elections on October 31 due to the overlapping of the election campaign with the Census.

It is very important for me what the opposition will say. It should be satisfied with the election date. If the elections are held on October 17, the campaign coincides with the census, and that is not good, we should push the census by the end of September, after which the campaign can start. But if the opposition says the 17th and all other parties agree we agree. Next weekend is the 24th and 31st, those are the options for October, said Zaev.

The prime minister informed on Tuesday that he would seek the consent of the parties to hold local elections in the country on October 31, in order to avoid coinciding with the census. However, VMRO-DPMNE accused that the Prime Minister, on his own, without consulting the other parties, “seeks to move the date of the local elections from mid-October”.

VMRO-DPMNE MP Antonio Milososki said he expects the parties to respect the legal and constitutional deadline and to hold the first round of local elections on October 17.

Local elections are not determined by the desire of any politician, regardless if it is the prime minister. Local elections are held on a specific date according to the Constitution and the law, and the constitutional and legal deadline for local elections is October 17, Milososki said, adding that any other date would be “unconstitutional and could jeopardize the entire election process as illegal.”