Macedonia opposition calls for no confidence vote against gov’t

SKOPJE, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) — The Macedonian opposition filed a motion of no-confidence against the government in parliament on Tuesday.

The parliament speaker is expected to convene the vote on Friday.

The Socialists-led opposition gathered on Tuesday in the Socialists’ headquarters and agreed that the government led by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has to be put to the test.

“Instead of solving the economic and political problems that emerged in recent months, they are endangering the institutions, peace and the stability of the country,” Branko Crvenkovski, leader of the Socialists, said at a press conference.

Macedonia announced in September that its economy had slipped into recession after two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

The tiny western Balkan country saw much of disputes after the defense minister from an ethnic Albanian party, a junior partner in the government, paid tribute to the ethnic Albanian rebel fighters who fought the government army in 2001.

“Instead of dealing with the recession, the government diverts attention and focuses on inter-ethnic problems,” Crvenkovski said.

It is believed that the government will survive the no-confidence vote. The coalition government has 71 seats in the 123-seat parliament.