VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski warned that the Government is preparing to rig the coming presidential elections in April/May in order to install a loyal President who would help it complete the renaming of the country. Mickoski said that this is why VMRO-DPMNE demands early general elections, and the application of the rules under which the opposition will run key Government departments and ensure that the elections are free and fair. If SDSM refuses to accept calling for early elections, Mickoski says that it will happen under pressure caused from the opposition’s win at the presidential elections.

– VMRO-DPMNE will do everything in its power to self-organize and to prevent the coming theft of the elections which the Zoran Zaev Government is planning. We will defeat Zoran Zaev at the elections. We are certain that Zaev will not be able to withstand the public pressure and will have to agree to early elections in the autumn, or in the spring of 2020. We are strongly motivated and mobilized to win the presidential elections, as the people are no longer afraid of Zoran Zaev. It would be best, never the less, to hold the early general elections along with the presidential, Mickoski said during his interview with editors from leading media outlets broadcast on the public MRTV television.

Regarding the Prespa deal and the process to rename Macedonia, Mickoski said that as soon as his Government is in place, it will clearly show how the process will be altered.

– Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is clearly telling us that Greece does not recognize our nationality with the deal, only that our citizenship is referred to as “Macedonian”. Read the diplomatic note that Foreign Minister Dimitrov sent Greece, specifying that, according to him, the word nationality means merely citizenship. This means that we ourselves give up on our nation, that we are no longer a nation but just citizens. VMRO-DPMNE will win the trust of the public and will do all it can to alter the process, Mickoski said.

He denied having poor relations with foreign leaders and said that he will consider the positions of the “international community” as closely as those of the domestic public.

– I’ve had a number of meetings with international representatives in the past period. We exchanged our positions and opinions and in the coming period I will have even more chances to consult with them, Mickoski said, adding that the party is developing ties with foreign countries at an equal footing, as friends and partners. “Since its founding, VMRO-DPMNE has been strongly dedicated to the Euro-Atlantic integrations. We opposed the Prespa proposal because it was an ultimatum before the Macedonian public, it was a take it or leave it offer, without an option that we change anything in the proposal. It is legitimate to hold a different opinion in a democratic society”, Mickoski added.