Macedonia snap poll set for June despite protests

Macedonia confirmed today it will hold snap polls on June 5, despite days of angry anti-government protests and opposition calls for a delay as the country grapples with a bitter political crisis.
The date was officially set after demonstrators took to the streets in protest at President Gjorge Ivanov's decision to halt probes into more than 50 public figures, including top politicians embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal.
"Based on my constitutional and legal authority... I today signed the decision to call early elections... On June 5, 2016," parliament speaker Trajko Veljanoski said in a statement.
The early elections, originally agreed for April 24 and then postponed in February to June 5, are part of an EU-brokered agreement to solve the seething political feud.

But Zoran Zaev, leader of the main opposition SDSM, insisted today he would boycott the election, claiming that conditions for a free and fair vote were not in place.
Ivanov, however, pledged to push ahead, vowing that the ballot would be a "new chapter for Macedonia".

Thousands of people, mainly SDSM supporters, took to the streets yesterday in a mostly peaceful protest, demanding Ivanov either revoke his decision or resign, as well as calling for the election to be postponed.
Police responded by blocking off traffic near parliament and deploying four armoured vehicles and a water cannon, according to an AFP journalist.

Macedonia's political crisis kicked off last year when the SDSM accused then prime minister Nikola Gruevski of wiretapping around 20,000 people, including politicians and journalists, and said the recordings revealed high-level corruption.
The government denied the accusations and in response filed charges against Zaev, accusing him of "spying" and attempting to "destabilise" the Balkan country.
Gruevski, who had been prime minister since 2006, resigned in January in order to pave the way for early elections.
But tensions surged again Tuesday when Ivanov announced the halt of judicial investigations into 56 people, including his ally Gruevski -- still Macedonia's most influential political figure.

Others affected by the decision included former interior minister Gordana Jankulovska, ex-intelligence chief Sasho Mijalkov as well as Zaev and former SDSM leader and ex-president Branko Crvenkovski.
Both sides have said they would rather see the probe go ahead.