Hristijan Mickoski

The leader of North Macedona's main opposition party, VMRO DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, joined the celebrations marking Viktor Orban's victory in Sunday's Hungarian elections at Orban's Fidesz party HQ in Budapest.

The traditional pruning of the vineyards near the south-eastern town of Kavadarci for St. Tryphon's Day on Monday turned sour when the Bishop Agatangel of the Macedonian Orthodox Church called in his sermon for the opposition right-wing VMRO DPMNE party to return to power.

The leader of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE in the RNM, Hristijan Mickoski, has asked Bulgaria to give written guarantees that it will not block his country on the road to the EU. He also demanded that the Bulgarians apologize to the RNM for "the massacre of 7,200 Jews in the Treblinka camp during World War II."

North Macedonia's main opposition VMRO DPMNE party declared victory over the centre-left government on Sunday night after polls closed in the local elections, which would mark a striking political comeback after three election defeats to the ruling Social Democrats.

North Macedonia's largest opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE, has set up roadblocks in Skopje and about 10 other cities across the country, demanding the government release details of a roadmap being negotiated between Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and Bulgaria, Skopje Diem reported.

The head of the main opposition VMRO DPMNE party in North Macedonia, Hristijan Mickoski, told Alfa TV on Thursday that since his party revealed a passport forgery scam involving the police, he and his loved ones had received grave threats.

The Interior Ministry said on Tuesday that at least nine police officers have been arrested so far on suspicion of being part of a group that issued false passports and identity documents to foreign citizens.

"The operation is ongoing and we will have more info once it wraps up, later today or tomorrow," a high-ranking official in the Interior Ministry told BIRN.

Monday's agreement between Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, the leader of the ruling Social Democrats, and the opposition VMRO DPMNE party leader, Hristijan Mickoski, to postpone the nationwide census for six months from April to September due to the COVID-19 crisis has angered members of the ruling coalition as well as opposition parties.

Two days before it was scheduled to start, North Macedonia's governing and opposition parties have agreed to postpone the long-awaited census for five months so that census takers and the wider population can get vaccinated first.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on Wednesday unexpectedly asked North Macedonia's parliament to take an immediate vote of confidence in his cabinet after the main opposition right-wing VMRO DPMNE party claimed Zaev's wafer-thin majority in parliament was shaky, and that it could soon muster enough support to topple him.