SDSM

19 injured during protest in Macedonian capital

SKOPJE -- At least 19 people have been injured, among them 15 policemen and one photographer, in the clashes between the police and protesters in Skopje, AFP reported.

The opposition Social Democratic Party, SDSM, presented more tapes on Thursday that it says prove government officials and their associates committed blatant fraud in a key local election.

A newly aired tape, containing what appears to be the voice of Prime Minister and VMRO DPMNE party leader Nikola Gruevski, confirms claims that ruling party MPs had to sign blank resignation declarations, which could then be activated if they defected or disobeyed instructions.

Macedonia's Prime Minister, Interior Minister and secret police chief have been routinely fixing which judges get appointed and promoted - or not - in Macedonian courts, the head of the Social Democratic Party, SDSM, Zoran Zaev, said on Tuesday.

At a press conference in the southeastern town of Strumica on Wednesday, the opposition Social Democratic party, SDSM presented more tapes that point to election fraud on the part of government officials and their associates.

Deutsche Telekom's spokesperson, Elpida Trizi, has told Deutsche Welle that the company's subsidiary, the majority owner of Makedonski Telekom AD, is planning to investigate Macedonian opposition claims of mass surveillance in which mobile operators were presumably involved.

The Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, which is part of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's ruling coalition, said on Monday that its leader had not discussed with the Macedonian premier the possibility of its rival, the opposition Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, joining the government which is currently under fire over mass wiretapping allegations.

Speaking at the European Parliament's debate in Strasbourg on Macedonia's progress in 2014 on Tuesday, Commissioner Hahn said that the allegations contained in the tapes produced by the opposition must be examined.

Zoran Zaev, head of the opposition Social Democratic Party, SDSM, has called on people to join the party when it reveals what it promises will be the "most significant, most insolent and most outrageous examples" of electoral fraud committed by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and his ruling VMRO DPMNE party.

Macedonia's opposition Social Democratic party, SDSM, published seven more conversations on Friday, which the party said showed the arrest of opposition politician Ljube Boskoski was a setup.

Ljube Boskoski, a former Interior Minister and former leader of the United for Macedonia party, was arrested on June 6th 2011, one day after the general elections of that year.