EU Says Republic of Macedonia Snap Vote Won’t Be Credible
- Premier’s party is only political force to register candidates
- EU urges republic’s president to revoke pardon in wiretap case
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An opposition boycott of the Republic of Macedonia’s June 5 parliamentary ballot will render the vote unable to meet “the minimum conditions to enable credible elections,” a European Union official said Monday.
The refusal by three political parties to register candidates before the May 11 deadline are deepening a standoff with former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, who opposition leaders accuse of abusing his post to consolidate power following a wiretapping scandal last year. The political crisis is also moving the former Yugoslav republic further away from its goal of joining the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for the bloc, said in e-mailed answers to Bloomberg questions.