The upcoming period in any form will be determined by the corona virus crisis, but political action in no way can be reduced to the tightness of this uniformity alone. Most likely all other topics will remain in the shadows and rightly these elections can be defined as coronary elections, in the sense of political battle between political parties. Meanwhile, the election debate itself creates a misconception that it all ended with the virus.
Author: Bardhyl Zaimi
The moment someone mentions the word “elections” necessarily everything changes. And when this word is proclaimed in a time of pandemic, at a time when the seriousness of dealing with the virus should still be at high levels of institutional responsibility, the “misunderstanding” by people becomes so great that they can declare it non-existent. Initially, they talked about a return to normalcy, a gradual return, as it really should happen, and as is happening in other countries that already have a clear plan to “return” to normalcy in interdependence with the circumstances, with the permanent care that needs to be shown from the possible increase in infections.
Political parties last week met to set a possible date for the elections and all in the refrain repeated that the health of citizens is in the first place. According to all entities within the time, before meeting in another meeting with the President of the state, the necessary information on the situation with the corona virus will be provided, and then the appointment of the date for holding early parliamentary elections will be considered.
Between the lines it seemed that all political parties had already decided to hold the elections, while it only took a while to justify what will happen within this week, namely setting a date. Of course, political appearances had to sound with the proper concern for the lives of citizens, and all parties said this as a chorus. Political statements could not go beyond the framework of pandemics, while North Macedonia had previously marked a decline in the infection curve. Perhaps coincidentally, but as soon as the elections began to be mentioned, within 3-4 days the number of infected people increased.
In the meantime, the state of emergency was coming to an end and a decision had to be made. While politics was already talking about elections, the president of the state, at the suggestion of the government, had continued the state of emergency for another two weeks. However, holding elections remains on the agenda of political parties.
From the statements of the first meeting with the president, it seems that SDSM is ready to go to the elections, while there is a hesitation in the opposition party in the Macedonian political bloc, VMRO-DPMNE. Aside from being a calculation for politically caring citizens, as the party’s leader, Hristian Mickovski, argued, it does not appear that the party sees a suitable momentum for the election, a momentum that could be to their detriment. On the other hand, SDSM insists that it believes it has managed the pandemic situation well, hoping that it will have a strong adute fo the electorate.
The parties in the Albanian political bloc have not expressed any strong insistence, but have reiterated that the recommendations of the health institutions on the situation with the corona virus will be respected. They are likely to await the SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE’s decision-making epilogue, while stressing that the decision must be by consensus.
The end of June is seen as a possible period for holding early elections. VMRO-DPMNE, meanwhile, has reiterated that the health of its citizens is paramount. It is possible that all this will be a prelude to reflecting care and impressing citizens on which party cares most about them. The very fact that the elections have already taken place shows that the focus of the parties remains on the early elections. The question remains which will benefit the most from the pandemic situation, which, if elections are held, will dominate the campaign.
The trajectory of political developments in North Macedonia shows that these disagreements over the timing of the elections are always a political prelude before a date is set. Elections are likely to be held, while these temporary disagreements serve to set the political guard, but also to articulate in advance the political message imposed by a sensitive situation for all citizens. In politics nothing happens by chance.
There are two moments that need to be reflected in this situation. First, at a time when the virus has not yet been eradicated, the problem of early elections has given way to the idea that since there is a election’ talk, there are no warnings about the risk of pandemics. False news and this moment of debate on the elections create a space for negligence on the part of the citizens, while an immediate increase in the number of infected people has been noticed. Asking for care, respect for the measures, while talking about elections, for the majority of people remains absurd, not to mention a signal to be released to fatal carelessness.
Second, the question arises as to what choices these may be, in a tense situation and filled with a marked sensitivity to the risk of coronavirus. I will not think that the political quality of these elections will be minimal, while it is believed that the whole campaign will focus only on managing or mismanaging the situation with pandemics. This campaign will be completely reduced to this political uniformity, without being able to extend to other political dimensions that are of vital interest to the citizens.
The upcoming period in any form will be determined by the corona virus crisis, but political action in no way can be reduced to the tightness of this uniformity alone. Most likely all other topics will remain in the shadows and rightly these elections can be defined as coronary elections, in the sense of political battle between political parties. And, it can’t be otherwise, in a situation where all people are preoccupied with this problem and their lives feel endangered. In this situation political vision cannot go beyond this vital determination. What political vision can unfold in a situation of almost ontological turmoil, this party already knows, but the passion for power will be there to justify everything!