May 17 (SeeNews) - The international community could not accept as a reliable partner any government resulting from snap elections in which three major parties are not participating, the European Commission said on Tuesday, commenting on the political situation in Macedonia.
Macedonia has called early elections for June 5. However, three of the main parties in the country - the ethnic Albanians' Democratic Union of Integration (DUI) and the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA), and the socialist SDSM are boycotting the vote, saying the requirements for fair and credible elections are not in place.
"We do not see that the minimum conditions to enable credible elections on 5 June 2016, which could be recognized by the International Community, are met," Maja Kocijancic, a spokesperson of the European Commission, said in a statement emailed to SeeNews.
The Commission urged the country's leaders to take decisive steps to resolve the deepening crisis, while respecting the Przino agreement. It also called on them to address the persisting rule of law problems without further delay, the recent presidential pardons in particular.
Macedonia has been locked in a political crisis since January 2015 when opposition SDSM leader Zoran Zaev accused the coalition government of the conservative VMRO-DPMNE and the ethnic Albanians' DUI of corruption and wiretapping illegally thousands of people. For its part, the government charged Zaev with trying to destabilise the country. In a bid to break the political deadlock and in line with the so-called Przino agreement brokered by the European Union, the main political parties reached a deal to hold early elections in April 2016. The polls were then postponed for June 5.
In mid-April, Macedonia's president Gjorge Ivanov surprisingly halted investigations against 56 officials suspected of being involved in the wire-tapping scandal, triggering mass street protests.
The Commission's spokesman also mentioned once again the outstanding issues hindering the country to organise fair votes, such as the non-existing voters featuring on voters' list, the intimidation of voters and unbalanced media reporting.
"Recent actions and any further inaction now will have serious consequences", Kocijancic said, adding that the Commission remains committed and available to assist all parties.