The Council of Europe does not support the boycott of the June 5 elections and asks all political parties to show constructiveness and offer solutions to the exit of the political crisis, Telegraf.mk reads.
The delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) said the election boycott is not a constructive approach in terms of good governing and is opposite to the democratic rules. The delegation points that all political parties, initially shared the same position that early elections were the sole way out of the current political crisis and that it regrets the SDSM decision to boycott the ballot, while expressing concerns regarding the stances of the Albanian parties - DUI and DPA - that are also considering the same path.
All political powers in Macedonia should show responsibility towards the elections and implement the Przino Agreement, the press release issued by the PACE delegation reads, which in the past two days in Skopje was working on the assessment of the pre-election climate in Macedonia in regards to the early general elections scheduled for June 5.
The EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn and the leaders of the four political parties in Macedonia in Przino.
The delegation calls on all sides to fully implement the Przino Agreement, which according to its estimates, offers a way out of the crisis and systematic solution that would work on the long-term. It also calls for the reaching of a political agreement in order to secure an undisrupted election campaign, to demonstrate liability and accountability and thus lower the tensions in society in the interest of the citizens and for the stability of the country.
The delegation, led by Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC), recalled that these early elections were called in the framework of the implementation of the EU-brokered Przino Agreement to put an end to the political crisis that followed the April 2014 presidential and early parliamentary elections. The main opposition party had challenged the results of the elections and boycotted the Parliament until September last year.
PACE will deploy a 22-member delegation to monitor the June 5 elections.