President Pendarovski announced that he will convene the Security Council on Saturday to discuss whether he will extend the state of emergency for a third time. Macedonia has been under a state of emergency for two and a half months, which allows the Government to rule by decree.

Meanwhile, the Parliament remains dissolved, a move that was supposed to lead to early elections on April 12 that were abandoned with the coronavirus epidemic. The ruling SDSM party insists that as soon as the state of emergency is lifted by Pendarovski, a deadline of 22 days begins to hold elections. The opposition VMRO-DPMNE party disputes this and asks SDSM that the elections are held on a mutually acceptable date, once it’s safe to vote. But it’s likely that Pendarovski’s decision will be driven mainly by the political needs of his SDSM party.