US Official Visits Macedonia As Deadlock Continues

During his stay in Macedonia, Yee will meet political leaders to discuss the formation of a new government, bilateral ties and reforms needed for Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic integration, the US embassy in Skopje said.

Yee is expected to press for an end to the political stalemate and to the institutional blockade that has prevented the election of a new opposition-led government since the December elections.

The political stalemate is the result of filibustering by MPs from the former ruling VMRO DPMNE party in parliament, backed by the President, Gjorge Ivanov, who refuses to award the mandate for a new government to the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, despite their majority in parliament.

Mitko Gadzovski, a political science professor at the Skopje Social Sciences Faculty, said he felt optimistic.

"After Yee's meetings with party leaders on Monday, it will become more certain that the way out of the crisis will be found through an institutional way, through the election of a new speaker of parliament and then a new government," he said.

Gadzovski told Radio Free Europe that he suspected that VMRO DPMNE might yield and end its blockade after Yee's visit based on past experiences of Yee's involvement in Macedonia.

He noted that several VMRO DPMNE ministers had resigned in May 2015, shortly after Yee's visit, when he demanded that officials take responsibility for the illegal surveillance scandal in which they were implicated.

However, President Ivanov looks set to avoid meeting the US official, after his cabinet insisted he was too busy.

On March 22, Ivanov avoided meeting the visiting EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn.

Yee will be the first senior US official to visit...