VMRO-DPMNE does not represent the entire “nation”

On 9 April 2017, Nikola Gruevski, leader of VMRO-DPMNE and an MP in the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia, gave the following statement, which we assess as untruthful:

…I warn him (Zoran Zaev, our remark) not to play with the democracy in the Republic of Macedonia, not to play with the nation, because this country is not his, this country belongs to the nation and he cannot arrange certain scenarios, platforms from foreign countries behind the nation’s back, especially after the elections and after he lied to everyone. He should not believe that he can go with it just like that and that the nation will not bat an eyelid…

EXPLANATION:

This statement was actually an answer to a journalistic question regarding the possibility that the parliamentary majority composed of SDSM, DUI, the Alliance for the Albanians and BESA, supported by at least 10 MPs, could vote through switching to the election of the Speaker in the next several days, thereby overcoming the current impasse caused by the constant discussions, i.e. the filibustering by VMRO-DPMNE’s MPs.

This part of Gruevski’s statement is untruthful and absurd, because neither he, nor his party, does represent the entire “nation”, if he refers to the citizens, nor they represent the majority of the Macedonian people and other ethnicities in the RM.

Seen from the two aspects, Gruevski’s statement is both an untruth and a manipulation. In the context they are used, the words “the nation is watching”, “behind the nations’ back”, “the nation will not bat an eyelid” etc. are untruthful assertions.

Until he does become the PM or the President, Gruevski can talk only on behalf of the votes he won on the elections, which are 38.1 percent of the turnout, i.e. 66.8 percent of all registered voters.

Those he points out to, SDSM and its leader Zoran Zaev, represent the votes of 36.6 percent of the registered voters, whereas the parliamentary majority comprised of SDSM and the other three parties represents 51.75 percent of the turnout. These are the final official results of the last elections published by the State Election Commission.

Therefore, the untruthfulness and the misuse of the “nation” in Gruevski’s statements, including the aforementioned, are clearly and formally provable.

At this moment, the coalition that has the majority of votes in the Parliament speaks on behalf of more “people” than VMRO-DPMNE does.

To conclude, when Gruevski states “the nation this or that…”, in fact he utters untruths, because VMRO-DPMNE cannot speak on behalf of the entire Macedonian nation, if Gruevski actually refers to it, which the actual context proves, nor can he talk on behalf of all the citizens of RM. The same goes for the qualification and the warning sent to Zaev, not to play with the democracy. Because if the will of the minority – 51 MP as opposed to 67 MPs – is dominant in the filibustering i.e. the blockade of the Parliament, then Gruevski and VMRO-DPMNE are the ones that play with democracy while breaking the laws and violating the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia.

Hence, we deem Gruevski’s statement an untruth.

SOURCES:

• (2017)  VMRO-DPMNE/website – ВМРО-ДПМНЕ ќе одговори жестоко и соодветно ако СДСМ се обиде насилно да избере претседател на Собрание – [Accessed on 10 April 2017]
• (2016)  State Election Commission – Избори 2016, конечни резултати – [Accessed on 10 April 2017]
• (2011)  Устав на Република Македонија, со амандмани – [Accessed on 10 April 2017]
• (2013) Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia – Деловник за работа – [Accessed on 10 April 2017]

Assessed by: Teo Blazhevski

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