Skopje, 14 January 2026 (MIA) — SDSM leader Venko Filipche told a press conference Wednesday that the state should scrap the caretaker government provision from the Law on Government only after all EU-agenda reform laws have been adopted and implemented.

"People's free will, democracy and fair elections are not subject to political bargaining," Filipche said. He added that what the state needed to instead of "political bargaining" was to make sure it implemented reforms, especially related to the rule of law — the judiciary, the prosecution, the police — to show it was ready to scrap the caretaker government. 

"SDSM will only support reforms that bring this country up to the level of European standards. Let VMRO and DUI negotiate whatever they want. Their cooperation we all know too well. The only deal we can make is with the people. We are not bargain hunting here. Our duty is to put back the power into the hands of the people," he said.

The SDSM leader recalled that the caretaker government provision had been introduced due to "anomalies happening in the state and society when VMRO-DPMNE was in power." He said the state institutions had been "occupied" during VMRO-DPMNE's Nikola Gruevski's government. They were still "maximally partisan now," he said.

"The police used to be used as a repressive element in elections; the same is happening now," Filipche said. 

"It is no coincidence that a caretaker government was introduced then in the presence of Europe and the United States as our strategic partners to make sure we can have a fair election cycle," he said, adding that the ruling party had not changed its ways of governing.

Filipche also said the SDSM was ready for elections whenever they were called. He said he felt a snap election was sure to happen sooner or later.

"We are ready to participate in elections whenever they happen. It is the prime minister's job to voice his opinion," he said.

"I am quite sure — based on all that is happening, based on how disastrously the country is being run, based on this government's fake policies that have been completely exposed — that there will be a snap election; be it this spring, in the fall or at the end of the year," he said. mr/