President Stevo Pendarovski on Friday said that despite an ongoing spike of COVID-19 infections, there was no “necessity” in prolonging the state of emergency that has been in place since March 18.
“According to the information from the government, in the past period, sufficient quantities of medical and protective equipment have been provided and economic measures have been adopted to support the national economy, for which there is budget coverage,” Pendarovski said.
Pendarovski said that if need be, even without a state of emergency, there were still legal grounds to maintain such preventive measures as curfews, quarantines or crisis situations in parts or in the whole of the country.
Pendarovski said it was a “misconception” that the date of the early general elections, which were put on hold in March and remain a contested issue, rests solely on his decision to lift the state of emergency. He pointed out that even if it was prolonged, the government would still have had the legal power to call elections.
But Pendarovski said he supported having elections sooner rather than later, insisting that the current situation needed action.
“I know that most of our citizens do not think of elections at a time when there is an increase in the number of sick people, but elections, in a time of corona that will not go away soon, are necessary to have a functioning, rather than a dissolved parliament, and legal and legitimate, instead of a technical, government,” he insisted, adding that he would leave it to the political parties to agree on an exact date.
He said he was aware that the turnout at such elections might be lower than usual, but added that elections were still the best way out of the current political situation, which he said was “unique” in Europe, and could cause political instability and even security challenges.
President Pendarovski in his media address urged the main parties to reach a deal soon, adding that the next elections must be credible and inclusive, or they would lose their point.
The health crisis struck North Macedonia amid ongoing preparations for early general elections that were set for April 12. The pandemic arrived after parliament was already dissolved and a caretaker government in place that had a single task, to organise the polls.
Currently, the main ruling Social Democrats led by Zoran Zaev and the main ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, are proposing elections at the earliest possible date, on July 5 or 8.
But the main opposition VMRO DPMNE party is against early elections, citing the current health situation, which over the past two weeks has worsened.
Election date talks and plans were thrown into disarray last week amid a second spike of COVID-19 infections, which was mainly attributed to a lack of general discipline in observing the protective measures.
On the subject of election dates, Social Democrat leader Zaev on Friday said he still hoped for a deal with VMRO DPMNE, adding that the deadline for such a deal would end on Saturday, together with the formal end of the state of emergency.
