Macedonian Ex-Ministers Suspected of Election Fraud

Macedonia's special prosecution office has pinpointed a former interior minister and transport minister as well as the secretary general of the government as the main suspects for organizing electoral fraud during the polls in 2013.

The police minister at that time was Gordana Jankuloska, the transport minister was Mile Janakieski and the government secretary general is Kiril Bozinovski, all members of the government of VMRO DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski who stepped down as Prime Minister in January as part of the EU-brokered crisis agreement.

"The suspects....created a group tasked with committing crimes against the elections," deputy special prosecutor Fatime Fetai said without referring to their names in Skopje.

Their motive, according to the prosecution, was "to maintain the [their ruling] party in power" as well as gaining "direct privileges for themselves," Fetai said.

The suspects in the investigation that the Prosecution has called "Titanic" are suspected of several offences, from criminal association to violation of electoral rights, violation of the freedom of voters, bribery during elections and voting, destruction of electoral materials and misuse of assets during election campaigns.

The Special Prosecution said it is also investigating five judges and four members of the State Electoral Commission who were active in 2013.

One person with dual Macedonian and Albanian citizenship has been detained, the prosecution said. Media reports speculate that he is a political leader of ethnic Macedonians in Albania, Edmond Temelko.

Temelko was brought into connection with the scandal after news cameras in 2013 caught ethnic Macedonians from the rural region of Pustec in Albania voting in the Macedonian...