Macedonia Leaders Reach Deal on Electoral Commission

Macedonia's Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, and opposition Social Democrat, leader, Zoran Zaev, on Tuesday agreed on the names of the experts who will be appointed to serve on the electoral commission, DIK.

In a joint statement issued after talks that lasted several hours, they advised parliament to appoint Rexhep Prekopuca, Atanas Urumov and Aleksandar Cicakovski as independent experts on the DIK.

The EU mediator in the talks, Peter Vanhoutte, said that the political leaders will resume talks in the coming days on another overdue aspect of the EU-sponsored crisis accord reached this summer.

This is a package of media reforms designed to ensure unbiased reporting before and during the April general elections in Macedonia.

The meeting was also attended by EU ambassador Aivo Orav and US ambassador Jess Baily, as well as by leaders of the junior ruling party, the Democratic for Integration, DUI, Ali Ahmeti and of the opposition Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, Menduh Thaci.

The crisis in Macedonia revolves around opposition claims that covertly recorded tapes which it has been releasing since February show Gruevski was behind the illegal surveillance of some 20,000 people, including ministers.

They insist that the tapes contain incriminating evidence against many high-ranking officials.

Gruevski, who has held power since 2006, insists the tapes were "fabricated" by unnamed foreign intelligence services and given to the opposition to destabilise the country.

The talks on the composition of the DIK and on media reforms are among the last obligations that the opposition and the government agreed on in the EU-brokered agreement this summer.

A former Macedonian MP and political analyst,...