The MP and former secretary general of the SDSM, Andrej Petrov in an interview for the latest issue of “Republika” says that a party cannot afford to be against early parliamentary elections. Explanation is simple – the government gets and loses the elections, there is no other way to change the government.
Republic: Do you think that with the Agreement for amending the Electoral Code are full-filled the requirements for early parliamentary elections?
Petrov: Agreement for Electoral Code means that the government and the opposition accept the terms of the game. We in 2011 were unable to agree. We had serious differences with Nikola Gruevski. I can speak about it as a direct participant in these negotiations at the Club of Members of Parliament. The differences were so great that we did not agree with this approach and it resulted in the adoption of the Electoral Code without consensus first time in the history of plural Macedonia. Now we have the opposite situation, in which electoral rules are commonly accepted. In addition, they certainly are prerequisite for holding free and fair early parliamentary elections.
Republika: Does SDSM want early elections?
Petrov: I cannot speak on behalf of SDSM; it is a question for the President and Vice President of the party that have congress legitimacy. I can share my stance that any opposition, no matter which one is, cannot afford to be against early parliamentary elections. The government gets and loses the election. There is no other way to change the government. If you do strive towards that goal, to win power, so you can manage the country on different way than the current government, there is nothing else you can do in the position you are.
Petrov believes the Stevche Jakimovski GROM and Citizens Alliance for Positive Macedonia of Vlado Buckovski will take significant number of votes, but that number will be far from sufficient to become significant factor in the political arena. However, comments Petrov, the damage that they could make to SDSM are great. Three or four seats, which, for example they could take, would mean SDSM would lose six-seven seats.
The full interview can be read in the 77th Republika, which as of today February 21 2014 is in sale