How do you even sleep at night?, opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski asked SDSM party leader Zoran Zaev, after Zaev again insisted that elections take place on July 5. SDSM is hit by a corona wave, with half a dozen top party and Government officials testing positive or ordered into quarantine, and Macedonia today had its worst daily toll of the epidemic – seven deaths.

This is not a day for conflict and for additional aggravation of the citizens. I will just say that Zaev has lost touch with reality at a time when the situation is way too serious. We have a Black Monday, we have too many people being infected and dying, and I just don’t understand how this person sleeps at night insisting that it is nothing serious and that everything is normal. I’m in communication with a number of officials, including interim Prime Minister Spasovski and President Pendarovski, out of concern for the situation with the pandemic. We must show serious leadership and make decisions with public health in mind, Mickoski said.

Zaev insists that elections take place as soon as possible apparently hoping that an extreme low turnout from the voters scared of the virus will help his party. VMRO-DPMNE has proposed that normal elections take place in August or September, as the situation with the epidemic hopefully improves.