February 24 (SeeNews) - Macedonia's ruling party VMRO-DPMNE has agreed to the opposition's demand to postpone the early elections from April 24 to June 5, former prime minister and party leader Nikola Gruevski said.
The country's parliament approved the election delay at midnight on Tuesday after the EU and US ambassadors warned on Sunday that the country is not ready to conduct credible elections in April.
A total of 95 lawmakers in the 123-seat parliament voted in favour of the delay and 13 abstained, state-owned information agency MIA reported.
Just before midnight, the parliament also voted against it dissolution on February 24 with 83 votes for and 3 against.
Moreover, the lawmakers decided to ban broadcasters and other media from publishing advertisements paid by the government and the municipalities as of February 27.
The country's main opposition party, the Social Democratic Union (SDSM), had repeatedly warned it would boycott the snap polls in April, arguing that reforms in the media have to be made and the voters’ registry should be cleared to ensure really fair elections.
In their Sunday statement, the EU and the US ambassadors to the country noted that the agreed media reform did not take place at all and voiced concerns about the reported cases of pressure and intimidation of voters.