President Stevo Pendarovski has decided not to extend the state of emergency. He agrees with the government’s position that declaring another state of emergency is not needed, despite the number of newly infected, which is over a hundred a day.

The president had an almost identical position as the leader of SDSM, Zoran Zaev that elections must take place and that the leaders of all parties should reach an agreement on the date. Pendarovski believes that the full OSCE /ODIHR mission cannot be expected in such conditions.

There is no need to declare a new state of emergency, the adopted economic measures are sufficient for the coming period, there are stocks of medical supplies, and the Government has not submitted a new request for extending the state of emergency. Comparisons with the number of infections do not hold, because the state of emergency was not declared due to the number of coronavirus infections. There is no need for a state of emergency in order to introduce quarantine, curfew, etc., the government can make such decision in accordance with legislation, the president said.