January 30 (SeeNews) - Macedonian conservative VMRO-DPMNE party said on Monday it failed to reach an agreement with ethnic Albanian DUI on forming a new coalition government and called for new elections to be held.
New parliamentary elections are the only way out of the crisis, VMRO-DPMNE said in a statement on its website.
VMRO-DPMNE, which won a narrow victory against Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) in December 11 snap vote, was tasked with forming the new government. The deadline for reaching the agreement with potential government coalition partners expired on Sunday.
DUI has asked that Albanian become a second official language across Macedonia. DUI also requested the mandate of the Special Prosecutor's Office to be prolonged.
The early elections in December were part of a EU-brokered deal that aimed to resolve a protracted political crisis. The crisis began in January 2015, when opposition SDSM leader Zoran Zaev accused the coalition government of VMRO-DPMNE and DUI of corruption, illegal wiretapping of more than 20,000 people and covering-up a murder. In response, the government charged Zaev with attempting to destabilize the country.
"VMRO-DPMNE [...] believes that forming a government should serve for the overcoming of the political crisis rather than its deepening and therefore considers that the holding of new elections is a mature decision [...]", the party said in its statement.
Any other solution will only lead to new conflicts and problems in the already divided society, and will not help overcome the crisis or implement reform priorities, VMRO-DPMNE added.