HOW THE MACEDONIAN OPPOSITION SLIPPED AGAIN

AIM, Skopje, July 18, 1994

Summary:

On Friday Parliament cast a vote of confidence in the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, thereby giving it a respite of 90 days. Three weeks ago the PDP decided temporarily to abstain from participating in the work of Parliament which was blocked less because of that than because of the position of the VMRO - DPMNE not to attend the sessions without the required quorum of the ruling coalition, which is not possible without the PDP deputies. It is believed that the VMRO - DPMNE was after free of charge marketing by criticizing the Government for the situation in the economy, for agreeing to the temporary name of the state - FYROM, for concessions to Albanians, organized crime, etc. The dissatisfied delegates of the opposition left Parliament and Georgievski stated that he was withdrawing the request of the opposition, although Andov drew attention that that was not allowed under the Constitution. In his closing speech Crvenkovski refuted all the accusations and, according to the words of the leading media, showed that the ruling party had a well prepared strategy on which the opposition slipped. An interesting question remains - how will the united opposition whose pillars are the VMRO - DPMNE and DP function in the future?

Text:

On Friday, early in the morning, a few minutes after midnight, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia won a the confidence of Parliament. Thereby it ensured that it could work without obstruction at least for the next 90 days, according to the letter of the Constitution, for over that period the opposition will not be able to put the issue of confidence in the Government on the agenda again. Moreover, as observed by the leading daily the "Nova Makedonija", after the mentioned session of Parliament the authorities have reinforced their positions in which the opposition unconsciously helped them.

What preceded this session? Namely, the largest Party of the Albanians, the PDP, which is also a partner of the Government, decided, three weeks ago, temporarily to discontinue work in Parliament and its Commissions. In practice, it did not leave the institutions of the system because its Ministers and Deputy Ministers remained in the Government and carried out their duties even more zealously. The decision on abstaining, as the Party informed, was an "expression of revolt because of the too strict punishments pronounced on ten Albanians" in the "weapons affair". The PDP was criticized by the other coalition partners - SDSM, LP and SP, "because of attempted political pressure on the independent judiciary", as said in their party statements.

The opposition parties, VMRO-DPMNE and DP took advantage of this affair to accuse the Government coalition of being "unnatural" because it also comprised Albanians who, as they more or less said, were constantly demanding concessions at the national level. The work of Parliament was practically blocked, not so much because of the absence of the PDP as because of the previous stance of the VMRO-DPMNE that it would not attend sessions unless the necessary quorum was ensured from the ranks of deputies of the ruling coalition, which is not possible without PDP deputies. The VRMO - DPMNE could either: attend sessions whereby Parliament would have a quorum, and give its contribution to the passage of numerous laws, including a new law on elections; continue abstaining and pesrist in its demand that the ruling party ensure a quorum; or move a vote of no-confidence in the Government.

The Party decided in favour of the last option, although it was most probably clear to it that the Government could not fall, except if the PDP should come to the session and vote against the Government, meaning against itself too. It is thought that the aim of the VMRO-DPMNE was to ensure free of charge marketing by criticizing the Government, before the autumn elections. The PDP came to the session, thus perhaps ending its temporary abstinence. The VMRO-DPMNE did not try to win over the PDP, but levelled most of its criticism precisely at the expense of this Party. Most interesting of all is that the United Parliamentary Opposition comprising the VMRO-DPMNE, the Democratic Party headed by Petar Gosev and independent deputies, was formed at this session, with no indication as to whether it would outlast the mentioned session.

The VMRO-DPMNE deputies criticized the Government for the situation in the economy, for having accepted the temporary name of the state - FYROM, for concessions to the Albanians, it was criticized of being involved in organized crime, that some Government officials and executives were charging high fees for services to trade and economic enterprises, for owning firms and taking advantage of their official privileges, etc. Most criticized was the Minister of Police Ljubomir Frckovski, roll called by the VMRO-DPMNE leader, Ljupco Georgievski to substantiate his claims on VMRO-DPMNE's Bulgarian connections, as soon as possible.

A large number of Ministers responded, refuting the criticism of the opposition. Half an hour before midnight the united opposition left Parliament after Georgievski voiced dissatisfaction, saying that the President of Parliament was "fixing" the sequence of discussions and favouring Miniters, and then announced that the Party was withdrawing the motion of no - confidence in the Government. The President, Stojan Andov, responded and explained that the Constitution envisages that the procedure cannot be stopped and that the voting must take place. The united opposition, nevertheless, stuck to its decision and walked out. Then Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski held a speech, according to the procedure, in which he said that the young Macedonian state led by the Government and the President of the state was pursuing a road of development both at the international and national levels.

"Where would Macedonia be now if it had not accepted a temporary name, until the dispute with Greece is solved, whereby it got a visa for the UN and other international institutions", asked Crvenkovski. What should be specially underlined is his criticism addressed to the opposition in which Crvenkovski observes that the opposition only criticizes, but that it has never, over a period of two years, shown its programme and solutions to the problems it mentions. "The opposition knows how a state should be built, but will not say how", cynically remarked the Prime Minister. At this session, the PDP proved that it had a feeling for politics. In their discussions, the deputies of this Party supported the Government and one of them even said that it was an honour for the Party to be a member of the coalition when it had such a capable Prime Minister.

Another deputy told the opposition that the PDP knew why it was remaining a member of the Government, while a third advised some members of the opposition that it would be better for them to form a party of Albanophobes which will pick a fight with the Albanians and get what they asked for, because on the Albanian side there are also those who would like a fight with the Macedonians, underlining that that led nowhere. The PDP over a short period actually achieved a number of goals - it showed the Government that its stability depended on the Albanians, probably improved its rating with the Albanian voters and by its clearly expressed loyalty to the Government reduced the anger of the coalition partners and showed them that they would have to reckon with the PDP after the autumn elections too. The opposition, as noted by the leading media, slipped and achieved an opposite marketing effect because, as it is observed, it was not well prepared in contrast to the ruling parties, which evidently had a well-prepared strategy, including strong marketing, naturally free of charge.

There remains an interesting question whether the united opposition, in which VMRO-DPMNE and DP are the pillars, will continue to function. Indeed, maybe their only chance to win the elections is that they act jointly at the elections, at least this can be deduced from analyses of public opinion polls published so far. It is a completely different question of how such a coalition would function when we know that two very different parties are basically in question - VMRO - DPMNE rallies people who favour a very strongly expressed programme, while the DP has different profiles of supporters, a large number of whom are former members of the League of Communists of Macedonia - the Party for Democratic Transformation (SKM-PDP), who either have not joined the transformed SDSM or have left it, as Petar Gosev himself has done. That too is an interesting question.

PANTA DZAMBAZOSKI