Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska announced that the planned purge of the most incompetent and corrupt Government ministers will take place next week, or the one after that at the latest.

It is a fact that we won the municipal elections, form the Government and hold the presidency But it is also a fact that some of the issues raised in the public cost us support. We said that we will not be angry at the media, but we will change, and this is why we will perform a reconstruction which will cover a part of the ministers and the officials, Sekerinska said.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev promised the purge, or “operation broom” as he called it, after the dismal results in the first round of the presidential elections, when SDSM members were publicly naming corrupt local officials and declaring they will not vote for the party unless they are removed. The idea could still be derailed as the ruling SDSM party meets on Sunday to discuss the fallout from Zaev’s meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, which could result in early elections.