VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski has been summoned to a police station for questioning this morning. Pro-Government media outlets, clearly tipped off by the police, are reporting that Mickoski will be questioned over the incident a month ago when the police raided a restaurant where he was having lunch.

The SDSM led Government has made numerous attempts to entrap Mickoski, allegedly for violations of coronavirus restrictions. The Interior Ministry first seized the surveillance system in a gym where SDSM claims that Mickoski was exercising in violation of the restrictions – a charge he denies. Then in early June, the police led by an SDSM activist appointed as healthcare inspector, raided a restaurant alleging that Mickoski was not sitting in the patio area, which was allowed at the time, but in the inside of the restaurant. The opposition leader said that he is happy to pay a fine for the minor violation, adding that the rules have been changing daily and he was not able to keep up, but SDSM insists on dragging the case out in the public in its pre-election negative campaign.

Mickoski and other VMRO officials are also being followed and frequently photographed by either SDSM or police agents, and similarly accused of violating restrictions. The single-minded focus on the opposition party comes at a time when dozens of SDSM [artu officials were hospitalized or forced into quarantine after spreading or being exposed to the virus during the party events they held at the peak of the epidemic. Wholesale disregard for the restrictions was also reported and left uninvestigated in the Muslim community during the month of Ramadan, which led to the current Second Wave of the epidemic.