Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Osmani continues with his rejection of Zoran Zaev’s request that the Government will have to be purged from its most corrupt and inept officials.

According to Osmani, “the citizens only care whether the Government or the political party delivers results, the rest is more of an issue of a political show”.

This latest statement comes after Osmani already insisted that it is not Zaev but DUI party leader Ali Ahmeti who will decide whether members of the Government from DUI will be purged or retained. Zaev made the announcement after the first round of the presidential elections, when his SDSM party and DUI lost about 2/5 of their votes from the 2017 municipal elections, and a promise of a purge, or “operation broom” as Zaev called it, was seen as the best way to motivate disappointed voters.

Besides defending his own people in the Government, Osmani made statements in the regard that DUI wants to see changes among the ministers in charge of the economy. He received support on this issue from Damjan Mancevski, SDSM member of the Government who is seen as coming from the party wing of Deputy Prime Minister Radmila Sekerinska. The question about Zaev is whether he can replace not only the DUI ministers but also those from Sekerinska’s wing.