VMRO-DPMNE president Hristijan Mickoski reiterated that the DUI party will not be part of the next Government, and will have to spend some time in opposition to reform itself. In an interview with the Albanian language Alsat TV, Mickoski warned that an armed group close to DUI is deployed in the capital Skopje ahead of the elections.

The public will be informed very quickly. I leave to the Interior Ministry to handle this situation. If I were leader of Government tomorrow I would personally handle this and other similar cases, said Mickoski, blaming former Deputy Interior Minister Nazim Bushi of being the leader of the group.

Mickoski added that the natural post-election partner for VMRO-DPMNE will be the opposition coalition of Albanian parties. DUI won over this VLEN coalition in the first round of the presidential elections with about 120,000 votes against 80,000, but is losing its claim to represent the majority of the Albanian vote because in these elections DUI is running on the helm of a broader coalition that includes Turk, Roma and Bosniak parties.

DUI is not the winner in the Albanian bloc. DUI formed a coalition with other ethnic groups. The only representative of the Albanian people is the VLEN coalition. So the point of this argument is lost. Besides, what is happening on the ground, what DUI is doing, is not an accurate representation of the will of the people. There is a lot of intimidation, vote buying and at least one confirmed case of ballot stuffing, said Mickoski. He confirmed that Ahmeti is sending numerous “emissaries” to seek a truce and a possible coalition with VMRO, but that these offers are being rejected by VMRO.