Interior Minister Nake Culev strongly condemned the decision of President Stevo Pendarovski not to extend the state of the emergency despite the record setting infection and mortality rate of the coronavirus epidemic. Pendarovski is acting in support of the request of his SDSM party to hold elections as soon as possible, as early as July 5, a move that is strongly opposed by the opposition as it would clearly be the lowest turnout elections in Macedonian history and would lead to infections and deaths.

Pendarovski did not consult the most important institutions in the country before he made his decision not to extend the state of emergency and this raises doubts that the decision was driven by political considerations and not by the opinion of experts. It’s a fact that the number of newly infected citizens is very high in the past days and that called for a more serious approach to the entire process, Culev said.

Culev said that Pendarovski only consulted Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce before reaching his decision, but did not consult the Interior Ministry, which has one of the key roles in managing the crisis.

Pendarovski also indirectly blamed me and the Interior Ministry for not acting during the epidemic. These claims are based on the statements of one politician from the Government and not on the actual work of the police. I will not that the police has acted on more than 5.400 curfew violations and conducted over 180.000 checks and citations as well as 20.000 inspections of restaurants and cafes, Culev said.

The SDSM party is waging a propaganda campaign to blame the spike in the coronavirus cases on Culev, even though he has only partial control over the Interior Ministry, and most of the newly recorded cases are linked to violations during the month of Ramadan, a situation where the police would be required to break up family gatherings in private homes.