During his presidential inauguration on Sunday, and during his first meeting on Monday, with EU Ambassador Samuel Zbogar, Stevo Pendarovski exclaimed that his first order of business will be to extend a hand to the opposition.

This is a notable statement at a time when the Zoran Zaev regime is pursuing a campaign of political persecution aimed against the VMRO-DPMNE party, which managed to beat Pendarovski in the competitive races across Macedonia, but could not overcome the infusion of votes from ethnic Albanian districts which broke almost unanimously for the first President of “North Macedonia”.

I pledge to be the President of all citizens, of those who voted for me, of those who voted for the other candidates, and of those who didn’t vote. My first step will be to offer a hand of cooperation to the opposition, Pendarovski said to the attendees at the inauguration.

But there was nobody in the Parliament to hear him – Pendarovski shockingly did not invite opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski to his inauguration.

No invitation was received, VMRO-DPMNE said.

Outgoing President Gjorge Ivanov attended the inauguration and was gentlemanly enough to show Pendarovski himself around the villa Vodno residence, despite all the ugly statements Pendarovski made about him since 2014, when the two ran against each other. Pendarovski routinelly called VMRO supporters “cattle” and compared Ivanov to a potted plant, and his lack of class showed on Sunday when he did not invite opposition leader Mickoski, the man who managed to mobilize far more competitive votes that Pendarovski did, despite facing constant persecution, arrests and intimidation.