Faced with the growing scandal over the issuing of passports to regional mafia figures, the ruling SDSM party responded with counter-allegations against VMRO-DPMNE, over a decade old program to award passports to ethnic Macedonians to Albania. SDSM insisted that the practice, which is standard for all Balkan countries and was meant to help discriminated Macedonians from one of the poorest parts of Albania get access to healthcare and education, amounted to a major crime because some of them voted in support of VMRO-DPMNE. 

SDSM is now in the dock for issuing passports to hitmen, money launderers and bosses for the Turkish, Serbian-Montenegrin, Albanian and Italian mafia.

In the midst of the biggest scandal in our history, for two days in a row SDSM is making allegations about events from nine years ago. It’s a pathetic attempt to deflect public attention, said VMRO leader Hristijan Mickoski