With the start of the New Year, the Interior Ministry is expected to begin a process of “internal audits” of the officers, which will likely lead to further infiltration of supporters of the ruling SDSM party in its ranks.

The so-called “vetting process” is still not legally covered but Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski announced it will begin soon. It will include combing over the personal file of the police officers, their property and other criteria by a specially appointed commission. It echoes a statement by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev back in 2011 that, once he takes over power, he will hire SDSM supporters to all positions – from the cleaning lady to the top manager.

Interior Minister Spasovski already made official the return of Gjoko Lazarevski and Zvonko Kostovski, two former UBK secret police officer who were accused with conducting massive warrantless wiretaps for the political benefit of SDSM, to the ranks of the UBK. Following the dozens of politically motivated arrests and criminal charges against opposition activists, the main opposition VMRO-DPMNE party says that the Interior Ministry is used solely for the purpose to entrench SDSM in power.