Zaev’s candidate for Ambassador to the US, university professor Ljubomir Frckoski, was reportedly rejected by the US. VMRO official Antonio Milososki and several news outlets reported this today.

Frckoski, a notorious former Interior and Foreign Affairs Miniser, during some of the murkiest days of Macedonia’s early independence, was lustrated for abusing his power to prosecute political opponents as Interior Minister, as well as accused of violence toward his first wife and in one instance of assaulting a woman over a parking space. Former President Gligovor accused Frckoski of trying to bribe him on behalf of Greek intelligence services to give up on the Macedonian name, and former Speaker Stojan Andov accused him of involvement in Gligorov’s assassination attempt in 1995.

Still, Frckoski continued to wield influence in SDSM, and the party even nominated him for President in 2009 (he lost to Gjorge Ivanov). Milososki today said that the US asked Macedonia to withdraw his nomination after warning the country that Frckoski could not get a NATO security clearance or be entrusted with confidential information.