June 02, 2015
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonia's feuding political leaders have agreed to hold early elections by the end of April 2016 to resolve a deep political crisis, the European Union's enlargement commissioner said Tuesday.
Johannes Hahn said the final agreement is expected to be worked out at a meeting of the leaders next week in Brussels. He spoke after talks with conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, leftist opposition head Zoran Zaev and two ethnic Albanian party leaders. The last elections were held in April last year, when Gruevski won a fourth consecutive four-year term.
The crisis in Macedonia, one of the worst since it gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, stems from a massive wiretap scandal that purportedly reveals corruption at the highest levels of government. The situation was exacerbated by a shootout between police and ethnic Albanian gunmen last month that left 18 dead.
Opposition parties have boycotted parliament for nearly a year, while dozens of pro- and anti-government protesters have been camping in two different central Skopje locations for almost three weeks. "We have agreed to see a kind of transitional period, and it was agreed that by the end of April next year there should be an early election," Hahn told reporters as the four political leaders stood behind him but made no statements.
At the heart of the crisis is a cache of wiretapped conversations Zaev has been releasing gradually since January. He claims Gruevski — in power since 2006 — was behind the mass wiretapping of more than 20,000 politicians, police, journalists, judges, and others.
The conversations, which Zaev said he got from "patriots" in the domestic intelligence service, purport to reveal mismanagement of funds, spurious criminal prosecutions of opponents and even attempted cover-ups of killings.
Gruevski angrily rejects the accusations. He accuses Zaev of participating in a coup plot to overthrow his government. Two senior government officials at the heart of the allegations, and the country's intelligence chief, resigned last month in a bid to defuse tensions.
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonia's feuding political leaders have agreed to hold early elections by the end of April 2016 to resolve a deep political crisis, the European Union's enlargement commissioner said Tuesday.
Johannes Hahn said the final agreement is expected to be worked out at a meeting of the leaders next week in Brussels. He spoke after talks with conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, leftist opposition head Zoran Zaev and two ethnic Albanian party leaders. The last elections were held in April last year, when Gruevski won a fourth consecutive four-year term.
The crisis in Macedonia, one of the worst since it gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, stems from a massive wiretap scandal that purportedly reveals corruption at the highest levels of government. The situation was exacerbated by a shootout between police and ethnic Albanian gunmen last month that left 18 dead.
Opposition parties have boycotted parliament for nearly a year, while dozens of pro- and anti-government protesters have been camping in two different central Skopje locations for almost three weeks. "We have agreed to see a kind of transitional period, and it was agreed that by the end of April next year there should be an early election," Hahn told reporters as the four political leaders stood behind him but made no statements.
At the heart of the crisis is a cache of wiretapped conversations Zaev has been releasing gradually since January. He claims Gruevski — in power since 2006 — was behind the mass wiretapping of more than 20,000 politicians, police, journalists, judges, and others.
The conversations, which Zaev said he got from "patriots" in the domestic intelligence service, purport to reveal mismanagement of funds, spurious criminal prosecutions of opponents and even attempted cover-ups of killings.
Gruevski angrily rejects the accusations. He accuses Zaev of participating in a coup plot to overthrow his government. Two senior government officials at the heart of the allegations, and the country's intelligence chief, resigned last month in a bid to defuse tensions.
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