Hristijan Mickoski

On the other hand, the independent candidate for the mayor of Skopje, Danela Arsovska, declared victory, and the leading Macedonian opposition party VMRO-DPMNE calls for early parliamentary elections.

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.

The Criminal Court in Skopje on Monday in a first instance verdict sentenced former speaker of parliament Trajko Veljanoski to six years and six months in jail and former transport and former labour ministers, Mile Janakieski and Spiro Ristovski, to six years and three months in jail each.

The former head of the secret police, Vladimir Atanasovski, was jailed for six years .

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.

Recently-detained business magnate Orce Kamcev has long been the focus of controversy in North Macedonia, where he had close connections to the authoritarian government of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

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.