The leaders of North Macedonia’s two largest parties, Zoran Zaev of the ruling Social Democratic League and VMRO-DPMNE’s Hristijan Mickovski, reached an agreement on Monday to hold early parliamentary elections on July 15.
The elections will be held on Wednesday, not on Sunday, as required by the Electoral Code. Zoran Zaev said he will ask President Stevo Pendarovski to declare a state of emergency in order for the government to be able to hold an election on Wednesday.
Albanian parties were not directly involved in setting the date. The Albanian Democratic Union for Integration welcomed the agreement on the date.
Early elections were originally scheduled for April 12. The parliament dissolved a month ahead, in accordance with a political agreement between both sides. The outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic prevented elections from taking place.
In the last 24 hours, North Macedonia reported a relatively high number of infections and deaths: 103 new cases and 5 victims brought the total to 193 deaths.
