1 Well, when it comes to the election of Afrim Gashi as the President of the Assembly, I don’t know if we should see it as an act of repentance by VMRO-DPMNE for their attack on the Assembly back on April 27, 2017, or as a sign of political maturity. Seven years ago, when Talat Xhaferi was being elected as the President of the Assembly, VMRO-DPMNE members were prepared to kill MPs and journalists. In the recent election campaign, they went to great lengths to prove that the attackers were actually defenders of the constitution. Yet now, they themselves proposed and voted for Gashi to be the second-in-command of the state. That just goes to show that the attack on the Assembly wasn’t about an Albanian being elected as president, but to keep Nikola Gruevski in power, to save him from prosecution and to protect everything the then-regime had stolen. VMRO-DPMNE insists on the narrative that the attackers were defenders of the constitution, but it seems they were merely defenders of Gruevski’s crimes, who urged them not to sit at home in their slippers, but to go outside and protect him while he was off having a “very important meeting” in Vienna.
VMRO-DPMNE never apologised for the attack on the Assembly on April 27, 2017. But there you have it, after seven years, we’ve uncovered not only the hypocrisy, which is common in politics, but also the recklessness of that party, which was then willing to set the country on fire with an inter-ethnic war, just to stay in power.
It seems SDSM MPs had their heads bashed so hard that they overlooked the constitutive session of the new parliamentary composition and the election of Gashi as president, and forgot to draw a parallel with the election of Talat Xhaferi seven years ago. We vividly remember the bloodied faces of Oliver Spasovski and Ljupco Nikolovski in 2017. They are MPs in this parliamentary composition too, and if not the others, how did those two not get the urge to stand up and ask from the rostrum: “Hey you, why did you come to kill us?”
With their silence, SDSM missed the chance to remind both the current parliamentary composition and the public of the real motives behind VMRO-DPMNE’s attack on the Parliament in 2017. With that silence, SDSM is making it possible for one of the most terrible events in the recent history of the Macedonian state to be forgotten. You’d think their bashed heads, as a personal touch, would make a difference.
2 That being said, the MPs of SDSM chose to remain silent. They didn’t say a word. They’re above the situation. Plus, they’re mad at the voters for losing the elections.
Since you don’t like us, there’s no need for us to talk to you. In fact, out of spite, we won’t speak even in the Assembly. Two days later, we’ll release a statement and a Facebook post claiming that VMRO-DPMNE deceived the voters. It’s more than you deserve, we don’t owe you anything more. You voted for them, now face the consequences.
By choosing to remain silent as the opposition, the MPs of SDSM handed the parliamentary rostrum to the MPs of Levica.
For the past seven years, they responded to every criticism with: In that case, let’s bring VMRO back.
Now, they have a new doctrine within the party: In that case, let’s strengthen Levica.
3 MP Monika Zajkova, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), who was elected from the electoral list of the SDSM coalition, announced that she will act independently in the Parliament, as before.
Zajkova co-headed the list in the First electoral unit. She was photographed next to the former prime minister and SDSM leader Dimitar Kovachevski. Their faces still adorn billboards all over Skopje, claiming “There is no giving up on the future.” And yet, she gave up on SDSM at the very first bump in the road.
It’s not the first time that LDP has messed things up for SDSM. When VMRO-DPMNE needed votes to push through the “Skopje 2014” project, it secured the deal with the votes of LDP councillors in Centar Municipality. Back then, they left the SDSM majority to vote independently in favour of VMRO projects. But, remembering tends to be difficult for us.
In any case, we can expect the two MPs of NSDP, who entered the Assembly on the list of SDSM, to soon announce that they too will act independently. They’ll bargain for a higher price while the opportunity is ripe. This would reduce SDSM from 18 to 15 MPs. At this rate, they number of candidates for their party leader will exceed the number of their MPs.
In fact, LDP and NSDP seem to exist solely to mess with SDSM. They’re afraid of VMRO-DPMNE. Or, they get more advantages with them.
Have SDSM made a single correct decision regarding the recent elections?
4 Ali Ahmeti, on behalf of the European Front coalition led by DUI, announced the start of “the battle to abide by the spirit of the Ohrid Agreement.”
There is no such thing as the spirit of the Ohrid Agreement. The Ohrid Framework Agreement is a reality. It’s part of our Constitution. What Ali Ahmeti is doing now isn’t abiding by the spirit of the Ohrid Agreement but rather summoning ghosts of the past. Taking the boots out of the attic and the rifles for a stroll to the mountains.
The children of DUI have become too rich to put on those boots and risk their lives somewhere in the woods. But then again, they have enough money to find other fools to die for the promised, undelivered DUI tenders.
The international community, which has embraced DUI as their darlings since 2001, is now silent. In their democratic societies, when parties have to hand over power and go into opposition, do they threaten like this? With democratic boots.
5 President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova is wearing us down with witty nonsensical explanations for not using the constitutional name of our state. When asked why the wreath she placed at St. Cyril’s tomb in Rome had only her name written on it and not the name of the country, she replied with “as you know…” – (and how the hell would we know!?) – ribbons on wreaths are short, and the name of our country is long, so they consulted the Cabinet because there wasn’t enough space on the ribbon for so many letters, and although they initially planned to write R.N.Macedonia, in the end, they decided to write only President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova. All in the name of saving space on the ribbon.
That’s how politics works. When a professor with integrity, who’s trained tens of generations of lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and politicians becomes the president of “our country,” she won’t be ashamed to explain the problem of the short ribbon in the most calm and thorough way. The Italian ribbon is small, and the name Macedonia is large. And that’s the reality that must be respected. Much like the Prespa Agreement.
Next time, the people who are part of the Cabinet of the President might get even more creative. On the ribbon, they’ll write “Gordana S.D., President of R.N.Macedonia.”
Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski
