On Friday, Macedonian Assembly President Trajko Veljanoski is expected to call early parliamentary elections that are to be held on June 5, Telegraf.mk reads.
After the Parliament dissolved on April 5, the Speaker announced he would call the early elections ten days later in order to provide additional time to the State Election Commission to finalize the revision of the electoral roll. After the SEC has adopted the report on its field checkups on Thursday, there are no legal obstacles that would hinder the organization process of the early general elections.
However, the opposition led by SDSM does not agree with this outcome, and it demands a postponement of the vote indefinitely, arguing the voters registry has not been appropriate revised and that the country has not introduced media reforms.
Veljanoski responded by saying that following the Assembly's dissolution, there is no constitutional opportunity to postpone the ballot, i.e. that could happen only in a state of emergency or during a time of war.
The situation was additionally rendered more complicated after President Gjorge Ivanov passed a general decision to abolish all criminal procedures led against politicians belonging to both the ruling parties and the opposition.
The move prompted dissatisfaction with both sides and the opposition has been supporting protests that tend to have violent outbursts, demanding Ivanov's resignation and postponement of the elections.
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The main opposition party, SDSM, has announced a massive gathering for Friday, with which it hopes to convince the parliament speaker to delay the elections scheduled for June 5.