World Health Organization representative Fabio Scano warned Macedonia against relaxing the measures put in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and said that the situation in the country is serious. Scano’s visit to the country coincided with a major scandal as healthcare official Arben Ziberi said that he influenced the decision to open the borders for political reasons – eager to get more ethnic Albanian citizens who live in European countries to come to Macedonia and vote in the July 15 elections.

What we are seeing in Macedonia is worrying. You should not relax the restrictions until there is a vaccine. it is necessary that the entire society is included and that the protective measures remain. Otherwise it could result in an explosive spread that will damage the economy, Scano said.

The SDSM led Government was desperate to have elections as soon as possible, hoping that the low turnout will be to its advantage and began to reduce the restrictions even as the number of infections and deaths spiked after the massive nightly feasts held during the month of Ramadan. Now DUI, but also SDSM, pushed for the borders to open without tests or quarantine for those coming to Macedonia, aware that their electoral success depends on whether the tens of thousands strong Albanian diaspora from Macedonia comes and votes.