Changes in the Criminal Code clash with the leaders of the largest opposition party in North Macedonia, debates in the political scene

The quarrels between the current head of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickovski, and the former leader of the party, Nikola Gruevski, which have as their origin the recent changes to the Criminal Code, are inciting debates among the other largest parties in the country. Mr. Mickovski, meanwhile, is trying to involve the parties of power, the Social Democratic League and the Democratic Union for Integration in what the latter call "intrigue and strife within VMRO".

While the fights between the current leader of VMRO-DPMNE Hristijan Mickovski and the former leader of the party and former prime minister Nikola Gruevski are being viewed in different ways by the supporters of the Macedonian opposition, on the other hand, dissatisfaction has been expressed by some legal experts for changes to the Criminal Code. Precisely, the new Penal Code fueled the clashes between the head and former head of VMRO.

Hristijan Mickovski, in fact, started it first when he accused his predecessor Gruevski in an interview with the German press of being in secret communication with the government regarding the possible amnesty for the crimes and accusations of the investigative bodies against him.

Both Mickovski and Gruevski have used the quarrels between them to attack the government and the Social Democratic League, in particular. The former prime minister, who is on the run in Budapest, Hungary, reacted through the Facebook social network, saying that the provocation against him was planned in advance and that he was "excluded" as a whole, as he said, from the mother party. .

Meanwhile, some analysts are of the opinion that not all criminal offenses for which Mr. Gruevski is accused or for which he has already been sentenced in absentia with deprivation of liberty, are included in the new Criminal Code.

"But let's see what will happen in the elections; there can be serious movements if Gruevski, in confrontation with Mickowski, decides to come up with his own list of candidates in the elections", says analyst Petar Arsovski.

The Social Democratic League calls to be excluded from the quarrels and divisions within the opposition:

"Let the desperate Mickovski not confuse the Social Democratic League in internal party clashes; let him solve the fights himself", said Bogdanka Kuzevska of the Social Democratic League, while accusing that Mr. Mickovski has secret agreements with the fugitive ex-prime minister Nikola Gruevski.

VMRO-DPMNE is sure that all deputies are united around the current leadership.

"Everything that may happen in the next period of time will not divert us from the position that all 44 of our deputies are against the constitutional changes", said Bojan Stojanoski, legislator of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE.

On the other hand, the clashes within the Macedonian opposition party have also been reflected in the Albanian parties. The Alliance for Albanians has reacted strongly after a post by opposition leader Mickovski on social networks where he appears in a photo with the former Minister of the Interior, Gordana Jankullovska, who is serving a 4-year prison sentence. The Albanian Party calls this an attempt to rehabilitate political and institutional crime as a political victim, while saying that this proves that the future of VMRO remains crime and darkness./ VOA