April 7 (SeeNews) - The Macedonian parliament dissolved on Wednesday, just before midnight, two months ahead of early general elections scheduled for June 5, local news agency MIA reported.
"[..] these members of parliament went through a lot of difficulties, but we also achieved concrete results in the accomplishment of our strategic goals, building a stable present and a better future,” parliament speaker Trajko Veljanoski said, as quoted by MIA.
Veljanoski noted that he has the right to extend until April 15 the signing of a decision on the organisation of the polls, so as to give more time to the election commission to complete the necessary activities.
After parliament's dissolution, the leader of the country's main opposition party, the Social Democratic Union, SDSM, Zoran Zaev, stated that his party will boycott the snap polls, a press release on the party's website indicated.
Under the so-called Przino agreement of last summer, brokered by the European Union, the main political parties in Macedonia agreed to hold early elections on April 24 in a bid to resolve a prolonged political crisis. On February 22, the polls were postponed for June 5 under pressure from the EU and the US, which insisted that Macedonia needed more time to meet the international community's requirements for organising credible elections.