Macedonia’s opposition will nominate a different candidate for interim Interior Minister, after the SDSM party strongly objected to the appointment of Dragan Kovacki. Kovacki came from the Defense Ministry as a highly recommended army veteran, but SDSM insisted that he can’t be appointed to the Interior Ministry because he has not been out of uniform for at least three years, citing a constitutional provision.
“This opposition was due to the fear of Zoran Zaev and SDSM have from going to elections. They know they will face all the consequences of their rule and will face accountability“, DPNE’s President Hristijan Mickoski said during a press conference today.
Mickoski did not name their next candidate for interim Interior Minister, but said it will again be a highly qualified professional and will be named during the day. The interim Government is supposed to be elected tomorrow, as part of the 100 days rule that ensures the ruling SDSM party will not be in a position to fully abuse the public administration for its electoral purposes. Zaev is set to resign, and be replaced by the current Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski, while DPNE will nominate the interim Interior and Labour and Welfare ministers, as well as three deputy ministers who will have veto rights over pre-election spending. Spasovski was busy re-organizing the Interior Ministry, clearly with the goal of having SDSM party loyalists in key positions before a VMRO nominated candidate is placed in charge of the Ministry.
During the past four days, over 250 MoI professionals have been ‘relocated’ from one to another police station, and in some occasion to a different city.
