Macedonian PM Resigns to Open Way for Early Election - Senior Lawmaker

Macedonian Prime Minister has decided to resign in order to fulfill the agreements reached earlier with the opposition on the early parliamentary election.

BELGRADE (Sputnik) — Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has submitted a resignation letter to the speaker of the republic's Assembly Trajko Veljanoski, the Assembly's press service said Friday.

"Today, Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's resignation letter was delivered to me… As the President of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, I will follow the results of today's talks [between major Macedonian parties], brokered by the international community," Veljanoski said in a statement.

On Thursday, Gruevski made an announcement in a televised address to the nation on his plans to resign, in order to fulfill the agreements reached earlier with the opposition on the early parliamentary election, scheduled for April 24, 2016. Macedonia's ruling party VMRO DPMNE decided on Thursday to nominate its secretary general Emil Dimitriev as interim prime minister.

Gruevski, EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn and leaders of major country's political parties are currently holding a meeting in the Macedonian capital of Skopje to decide on the preparation of vote, in particular, the verification of electoral lists.

Macedonia has been mired in a political crisis since the elections in April 2014. The opposition blamed the government of Gruevski for the country's social and economic problems, aggravated by corruption. In May, opposition groups staged mass anti-government protests in Skopje that drew thousands of demonstrators.

Following the protests, the conflicting sides started talks, brokered by the EU enlargement commissioner and ambassadors from the United States and the United Kingdom to Macedonia among others.