VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski offered to remove the requirement for a technical Government that would be set up ahead of the elections, saying it would also put an end to the plan to appoint an ethnic Albanian official as interim Prime Minister.
This clause is part of the agreement that Zoran Zaev reached with Ali Ahmeti following the inconclusive 2020 elections. Current Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski, who is also desperate for DUI’s support, intends to honor the agreement and to step down 100 days before the election, in favor of an ethnic Albanian candidate.

For me it is humiliating to have DUI, a party at the center of criminal and corrupt scandals, nominate a Prime Minister. A country that hopes to become an EU member state must show responsibility and maturity, Mickoski said.

As a prior requirment is that the main opposition party – VMRO-DPMNE – will need to nominate officials to several key Government departments, along with the change of Prime Minister, Mickoski offered to abolish the whole notion of a technical Government. “It might be strange for me to say this, as I represent the opposition, but we can have a political Government until the day of the elections. We saw that technical Governments cause obstructions, and can’t offer much to the process”, Mickoski said in an interview with Kanal 5.

According to the opposition leader, his party can win 61 seats, which is necessary to form a Government by itself. While VMRO still plans to invite Albanian partners to join the coalition, winning 61 votes would give Mickoski’s party the upper hand in the negotiations, as opposed to the huge concessions SDSM is forced to make in favor of DUI.

The numbers I’m seeing, and our internal polls, show that we have room to grow and clearly point out to the fact that VMRO-DPMNE can hope for such a victory, with 61 seats. That is very important for us, to be able to reach our goals. SDSM is collapsing due to their bad policies. They are below even their historic minimum, while VMRO is consolidated, Mickoski added.

Regarding the recent nationalists stirrings – which included Ali Ahmeti’s inauguration of a museum that features a map of Greater Albania, Albanian opposition officials calling for a change to the national symbols and the angry reactions to the construction of a cross in the Popova Sapka ski resort, Mickoski called on the actors, especially those in the Albanian opposition, not to fall prey to nationalist gestures.

It is not acceptable that the Albanian anthem is performed in any municipality in our country. At the same time, I don’t see what is objectionable with the Macedonian anthem. While we live on the territory of the Republic of Macedonia, we must respect the basic pillars, which are the flag, the anthem and the coat of arms. Whether they like it or not, it’s their problem, Mickoski said.
Mickoski advised the Albanian opposition leaders, who are clearly his favored post-election partners, to campaign against DUI on the issues of migration and corruption, and not on the nationalist issues where DUI and Ahmeti are dominant.