VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski called on President Stevo Pendarovski to hold a meeting of the main party leaders to discuss the political crisis that is developing as the ruling SDSM party is trying to recall the already dissolved Parliament. Mickoski said that the attempt is a mockery of the constitutional order, as there is no option to recall a Parliament that has voted to dissolve itself.

SDSM is trying to recall the members of Parliament in violation of the Constitution. To this we say no. Before the state of emergency was declared we the party leaders met with the President and we decided to look for ways to postpone the elections. Let’s have the President convene another such meeting to discuss the situation, Mickoski said during a TV interview.

SDSM has not clearly explained its thinking behind the push to recall the Parliament. Many are expecting that SDSM will try to hold quick elections before the coronavirus epidemic has been fully overcome.

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We should avoid creating additional tensions in the public. Let’s open our cards at a meeting of party leaders, let’s have Zoran Zaev inform us what is the purpose of this unconstitutional push and let’s see what can be agreed by all, Mickoski added, calling the move by Zaev and his SDSM party “a mockery organized by the Government”.

He pointed to numerous statements from legal experts insisting that there is no legal option to recall a Parliament at this point. “This is not a partisan issue and there is no need to keep polarizing the public with political positions on this. I say, let’s work to find a solution”, Mickoski added.

The goal of this can be dual – one is the desire of the Government to solidify some of the decrees it pushed through under the state of emergency, as they realize they will possibly not form the Government under the next Parliament That is a credible threat and they should be afraid of it, they know that they will lose the next elections. The second possibility is that they are trying to impose an election date. The agreed date, April 12, is already behind us, and they may try to set a date that will suit only their interests. During our meeting with President Pendarovski we agreed in principle that the next date will be agreed by consensus, Mickoski warned.

The opposition leader also said that a purpose of the meeting should be to discuss how to remove the state of emergency, which, under the Constitution, can only be declared over 30 days.