VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski said that the oppositions offered early general election dates to the Zoran Zaev Government at the end of April or in early May. VMRO-DPMNE demands general elections after the major corruption scandal that erupted around the Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva. Mickoski warned that, as Zaev’s SDSM party is down in the polls, it may try to abuse the public financial resources to buy votes.

In all our meetings with international representatives and global financial institutions we are warning them that VMRO-DPMNE will form the next Government. I appeal for reason in the management of public finances by then, Mickoski said.

He accused Zoran Zaev of assuming the position of de-facto Finance Minister, after the removal of Dragan Tevdovski, in order to delay infrastructure projects so that these funds could be used to buy votes in the run up to the elections.

He intends to corrupt the voters using the budget, that’s why he named himself minister. Infrastructure spending is implemented with barely 20 percent. There will be 500 million EUR unused in the budget and these money will go to welfare transfers in the months before the elections, Mickoski said.

In light of the scandal with the Special Prosecutor, the two major parties are negotiating on a new law on state prosecutors. VMRO is conditioning its support for the law with holding early elections.

I’m an optimist, I believe that the Government will see reason and will accept the VMRO-DPMNE proposal. I’m aware that in the coming months there will be more violent reprisals against the opposition. We are never afraid to face the facts from the opposite side, but these talks are marked by a pronounced sense of hatred, assault and pressure against all who disagree with the Government’s positions, Mickoski said.