At today’s press conference, the President of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, confirmed the standpoints given yesterday by SDSM and the united opposition for boycotting the elections set for June 5. He stated that none of the three key conditions of the Przino Agreement – separation of party and state, media reforms and the clearing of the Voters Register, have been fulfilled.

Zaev called on all opposition parties, civil society organizations, activists and all citizens of Macedonia to join the platform, with the purpose of realizing the efforts for freedom, democracy and free and fair elections.

“Gruevski and Ahmeti have made elections impossible with their unilateral decision. I call for us to unite under a common platform. We will not be watching the elections on TV. We will continue to fight together for our Macedonia”, stated Zaev at the afternoon press conference.

The SDSM leader said that despite the resignations, the SDSM ministers will continue to perform their duties and will not allow themselves to violate the laws and the functioning of the institutions they manage, although he assessed the failure of Prime Minister Dimitriev to submit the resignations to the Parliament as “captivation” of the ministers in this Government against their will.

In regards to the role of the international community and the pressure directed towards SDSM for this decision, Zaev informed that during the previous day he also had extensive talks with Commissioner Hahn and other diplomats, assessing their efforts as friendly and well-meant.