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Macedonia's former Speaker refuses to hand over his post

Xinhua, May 2, 2017 Adjust font size:

Former Parliamentary Speaker Trajko Veljanovski declared Tuesday that he would not abdicate his post to newly-elected Speaker Talat Xhaferi, who was voted in last week by the SDSM-led coalition.

That Xhaferri was voted for by only the Socialist Democratic Union (SDSM) and the ethnic Albanian parties, which have a combined 67-seat majority in parliament, has angered VMRO-DPMNE supporters and protesters.

"We don't even know how many MPs (Members of Parliament) participated in the voting. There was no broadcast of the voting and the decision cannot even be registered in the official bulletin, which is a condition for it to become official. So, everything that has happened is illegitimate," Veljanovski argued.

Following his statement, the SDSM issued a press release calling on Veljanoski to vacate his office and allow Xhaferi to assume the position.

Stressing that Xhaferi was the new Speaker of Macedonia's Parliament, SDSM said Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov was duty bound to give the mandate to form a new government to SDSM President Zoran Zaev.

Meanwhile, VMRO-­DPMNE MPs held a meeting on Tuesday in the Parliamentary Speaker's office as a way of reaffirming its position that the election of new Speaker had been illegitimate.

However, DUI MP Artan Grubi told reporters Tuesday that Xhaferi had asked the Parliament's secretary-general to provide conditions for him to assume office.

According to Grubi, Xhaferi is the Speaker representing the will of the majority of citizens and added that DUI expected the new opposition should come to its senses.

The political deadlock in Macedonia continues as Ivanov has refused to give Zaev the mandate to form a government, arguing that Zaev's platform would lay the groundwork for a future partition of the country.

Nearly five months after a Dec. 11 parliamentary election, Macedonia's political class still hasn't been able to find a way out of the crisis.

The acceptance of ethnic Albanian parties platform by SDSM further deepened the crisis here while the stalemate reached a climax at last Thursday's plenary session when protesters entered parliament.

Around 100 people sought medical assistance after the protests turned violent. Among the injured were over 70 civilians, 22 police officers, and three members of parliament.

Protesters have been in the streets of Skopje for the past two months over the political situation in the country. Endit