Asked by the press about his apparent coalition with people he once declared to be criminals and murderers, Zoran Zaev insisted that in his second term the public will see criminal sentences for Saso Mijalkov and Nikola Todorov. The two former VMRO-DPMNE officials were targets of exceptionally heated attacks from SDSM while Zaev was in the opposition and was organizing a Colored Revolution to grab power in Macedonia. But once in office, Zaev made a quiet coalition with the two, and uses their remaining links to the opposition to sow divisions in VMRO, as well as to get the votes of several former VMRO members of Parliament. In exchange, all criminal charges against the two have been put on the back burner, together with the numerous criminal allegations against Zoran Zaev.

Not just Mijalkov and Todorov – all top officials who are charged will be held responsible – if there is evidence against them. Nobody will be spared from accountability. The people can only watch and punish us if we cut some deals that harm the justice. In a country that strives to join the EU there is no chance someone to save himself using his political ties, no matter who he sits with, Zaev said.

His SDSM party declared Saso Mijalkov the most hated figure in the country, second only to Nikola Gruevski, accusing him of staging the Albanian terrorist attack on Kumanovo in 2015. Todorov, who was Healthcare Minister, was accused of the death of a girl born with a severe spinal disorder. SDSM mobs would follow him around shouting “murderer” and whipped such a frenzy that the girl’s grandfather tried to kill Todorov in 2017, as he was leaving the Ministry on the last day of his term in office – Todorov dodged a bullet the man fired at him.

But now, both are involved in creating factions in VMRO-DPMNE, and Zaev seems only too happy to cooperate with them. Mijalkov was recently filmed with Artan Grubi, who is expected to be Zaev’s co-Prime Minister. Todorov was filmed together with Borjan Jovanovski, a journalist very close to Zaev and his regime.