Both Besa wings against interpellation, Avirovic to join the government?


What would be more uncertain from vote of confidence in the government, which will take place tonight in the Parliament, is the outcome of the vote “for” and “against” Zaev’s work in the ranks of the opposition. The request for an interpellation, which VMRO-DPMNE submitted without the signatures of all deputies, raised doubts about the possible disunity in the “For Better Macedonia” coalition. Only 41 MPs out of 48, as long as they stayed in power, after three MPs switched teams, are additionally gaining importance if it is known that among the “abstainers” are the three members of the Socialist Party of Macedonia, for which there have been rumors for long time that they plan on becoming part of the SDSM/DUI coalition.

“We can speak only on our behalf: all VMRO-DPMNE MPs have signed the request, except for the three who are in house arrest due to the events of April 27th, and which we did not want to disturb, considering that we have the required number without them. How our coalition partners will act, including the SPM, is their business, but we expect every MP regardless of whose party he is a member to act conscientiously and vote against the government’s devastating policies,” VMRO-DPMNE told ‘Nezavisen/Independent’ newspaper.

It is speculated that Vladanka Avirovic could soon become part of the ruling majority, while Stojance Milanov and Ljupco Dimovski, who was also detained after last year’s incidents in the Parliament, would remain with the VMRO-DPMNE coalition. Avirovic, who was a prominent defender of the former government’s policies headed by Nikola Gruevski, did not answer her our phone calls yesterday. Earlier, she told the media she did not sign the request for interpellation due to a knee injury, arguing that there was no change in the SPM course. Her son Vasilije is charged with the case “Trust” with Sead Kocan, which us led by the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office.

It is certain that the vote of no confidence in the government of Zoran Zaev will not pass in any of the parties with an Albanian sign. Besides the logical “against” of Ali Ahmeti’s integrators, both Besa wings, which have a total of five deputies in the Parliament, admit that they will not support VMRO-DPMNE. They do not hide that they would accept seats in the cabinet on “Ilindenska”, despite the opposing viewpoints with DUI.

“As long as VMRO-DPMNE does not change the way of thinking, we will not play according to their rules. The request for interpellation is part of the VMRO-DPMNE agenda and we cannot vote in their favor when they continue to use anti-Albanian rhetoric. In particular, our lawmakers will not actively participate in today’s debate in parliament,” stated Bilal Kasami from the Tetovo wing.

The Skopje wing led by Afrim Gasi shares this view. They say that the central committee has already decided not to support an initiative of a party that still leads a political agenda against the Albanian language and the interest of the Albanians in Macedonia.

“But on the other hand, this does not mean that we unconditionally support the Government, and everything they have done in the past ten months,” concluded the “other” Besa.

A minimum of 61 votes are needed for a possible vote of no confidence in the Government. Although VMRO-DPMNE unofficially acknowledged that the submitted interpellation was in order to find a reason for the return of their parliamentary group in the work of the Parliament, in order to make a census of the forces in parliament, but also in the one-day debate to disseminate fraudulent policies and unrealized promises by SDSM and DUI, public appearances continue to argue that there is a chance the government will fall. The coordinator of the parliamentary group, Dragan Danev, yesterday appealed to all MPs in today’s vote to put the interest of all citizens of Macedonia ahead of them, and not party and personal interests.

“If they are guided by those interests, I am convinced that we will have over 61 votes,” Danev said.

The coordinator of the ruling SDSM, Tomislav Tuntev, said that if this is the ‘big door’ for returning to the Parliament, then they are really disappointed.
“The request is quite legitimate and it gives us room to reaffirm all the positive policies of this government in the past 10 months, and we will remind the opposition of the criminal rule of VMRO-DPMNE in the past ten years,” Tuntev said.

Today’s session is scheduled for 11 o’clock, the hearing will last all day, and before midnight we will vote. In the event that a vote of no confidence is passed to the Government, it is obliged to resign, otherwise, in the next 90 days, a question of confidence cannot be raised again in the “Ilindenska” cabinet.
Putting the agenda of the interpellation against the government interrupts the opposition boycott of the parliament that began more than four months ago due to detention for the events of April 27, 2017, when the immunity of six deputies from the “For Better Macedonia” coalition was taken away.