Yesterday President of Macedonia Gjorgje Ivanov announced that he has again refused to give opposition leader Zoran Zaev a mandate to from a government.
According to a press statement, the reason for this decision has been that “the obstacles that didn’t allow President Ivanov to give Zoran Zaev the mandate before still haven’t been eliminated.”
With “obstacle,” the Macedonian president refers to the “Tirana Platform,” the agreement between Prime Minister Edi Rama and the leader of the Albanian minority parties in Macedonia, signed in in January 2017.
President Ivanov’s decision comes at a moment that the European community and the Macedonian opposition appeal to him not to further delay the formation of the government.
This is the second time that Zoran Zaev, who has the signatures of the majority of Parliament, 67 out of 120 votes, has been refused a mandate.
Early March, when President Ivanov refused Zaev’s coalition for the first time, he declared that “the constitution and my conscience prohibit me from giving a mandate to anyone who destroys the sovereignty and integrity of Macedonia.” He added that Zaev first would have to refuse a “platform that comes from a foreign country.”
