“I hope that we are far from that. But this does not mean that it might not happen if these trends continue,” Branko Crvenkovski, the head of the Social Democrats, said in an interview for the local A1 TV late on Sunday. Crvenkovski made the remarks as his Social Democrats and other smaller opposition parties continue a parliament boycott that they began at the end of last month and step up calls for early elections.
The immediate trigger for the opposition boycott was the freezing of the bank account of Macedonia’s most popular TV station, A1, whose owner is in detention on suspicion of financial crime. A1 TV has accused the government of trying to shut it down by influencing a court decision to block the account, while the government has denied the allegations. “This [Egyptian scenario] is not what the opposition wants. No one can drive people out on the streets to fight the government if they are happy with their own lives. If something drives the people to street protests, it will be the government’s undemocratic rule,” Crvenkovski insisted.
At Monday’s meeting of political party leaders, hosted by President Gjorge Ivanov, the Social Democrats announced that they had several preconditions for their return to the parliament. They will ask for the removal of the justice minister from the Judicial Council, and for the adoption of a law that would eliminate alleged favoritism of certain media outlets through state-funded advertising. In addition, the opposition has demanded an immediate update of the electoral roll, and the purging of fictive voters from the list. They will also demand changes in the election law to allow more control of polling by international monitors.
“When you have undemocratic government there are serious fears that you may have undemocratic elections as well,” Crvenkovski said, adding: “These are the basic preconditions so that we have a fair fight and to let the people decide freely.” In his own interview for A1 last week, Gruevski said that the demands of the opposition regarding A1 were illegitimate and directed at the wrong address. He said they should appeal to the courts.
The Skopje penal court last week postponed a decision on whether to unfreeze the A1 account. The judges are expected to make a ruling this week. Gruevski was first elected in 2006, and won a landslide victory at the snap polls in 2008. His VMRO-DPME has been the most popular party in the country for several years. The next regular elections are slated for 2012.
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