FYROM: President refuses to give mandate to Zaev

Macedonian (FYROM) President Gjorge Ivanov on Wednesday announced he would not give opposition SDSM leader Zoran Zaev a mandate to put together a new government.

"Neither my conscience nor the Constitution allow me to do that," Ivanov said.

Zaev previously said that he reached an agreement with the country's ethnic Albanian parties to form a ruling coalition - a move criticized by former prime minister, now VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski.

Ivanov said today he was "surprised by the Albanian parties' platform that goes against Macedonia's independence and sovereignty."

According to him, the platform was prepared "in another country, and with the mediation of another state."

"The content of the platform contravenes the Constitution of Macedonia," the president said.

The unity of the Macedonian state would be lost by accepting the platform, while...