Nobody asked us when VMRO-DPMNE was calling elections.

This was said by the leader of SDSM, Zoran Zaev, after party leaders failed to agree on a date for the elections due to the coronavirus situation.

Zaev is convinced that elections should be held on June 22 and that VMRO-DPMNE has no choice and the only thing it can choose is whether to participate in the election campaign or not.

These views of Zaev are completely opposite to the time when Zaev was the leader of the opposition and when he tried in every way to postpone the elections that were agreed under the Przino Agreement.

Let’s remember what it was like in 2016

According to that agreement, the elections were scheduled for April 24, 2016. But as the date drew closer, SDSM said there were no conditions for elections and that it was necessary to clear the voter List. They also spoke of “phantom voters” and a figure of as many as 300,000 dubious voters.

SDSM, the coalition partners will not back down from this fight. Without a cleared voter list and without free media, there will be no fair and democratic elections, said then-opposition leader Zaev.

Under pressure from foreigners, the elections were postponed to June 5, butthey did not take place for the same reasons, although the people leading the candidate lists were known. Then Zaev said that “they will not go to the polls because they would have won and Gruevski and Ahmeti would not have recognized them.“

 

New date for elections was not set and SDSM’s interim ministers left the government.

Until a new election date was set, December 11, SDSM demanded that about 100,000 citizens be put on a separate voter list as a condition for participating.

These were voters who, according to the then opposition, were disputable, and 30,000 citizens were temporarily removed from the list.

However, the voter list was not the only request of SDSM to go to the polls. They also demanded full control of the media, so a special body was formed of three members who controlled how the media reported on the elections and whether the opposition was sufficiently represented.

The elections were finally held on December 11, 2016, at which SDSM lost to VMRO-DPMNE by two MPs, but still formed a government.

For these elections, Zaev has no remarks on the voter list, although the number of voters is almost the same as in the 2016 elections.