Macedonian Opposition Boycotts Parliament

The cabinet of Macedonian PM Nikola Gruevski has been criticized for its undemocratic practices and bad economic policies. Photo by BGNES

Tension escalates in Macedonia as the main opposition party, and other smaller parties, announced they would boycott the parliament because of the government’s undemocratic practices and bad economic policies.

The protest was joined by TV channels, which demonstrated against the local court decision to freeze bank accounts of four influential private media outlets amid an investigation of their owner.

The BBC reported that on Friday, the TV channel A1 began broadcasting in freezing conditions outside the government building in Skopje.

However, the government dismissed the channel’s street broadcast as an “abuse of media power”, saying it was a “manipulation, aiming to harm the government’s image.”

The Parliamentary Speaker, Trajko Veljanoski, said Saturday in a written statement that he expects Vice Speakers an MP groups’ coordinators to attend a meeting scheduled for Monday. He also included the opposition parties despite their announcement of leaving the parliament.

Veljanoski claimed all open issues need to be settled through political dialogue and boycott of the parliament is not the right way to do this, since it goes against the country’s national interests.

The opposition parties have criticized the conservative government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, which has a two-thirds majority in the parliament.

Gruevski has rejected opposition demands for early elections.

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