Macedonia Nationalists Accuse VMRO DPMNE of Betrayal

As the formation of a new government in Macedonia under the Social Democrats, SDSM, looms ever closer,  supporters of the once unassailable VMRO DPMNE party - which governed the country for 11 years - say they feel betrayed by their own leadership.

Like many of his co-protesters in the "For United Macedonia" movement, which has been taking to the streets in Skopje for over 70 days, protesting against the announced election of a new government, Sotir, aged 34, says he is frustrated that his party is now passively awaiting the prospect of an SDSM-led administration.

"They are now holding press conferences instead of taking action and arresting those [MPs] who committed a coup [by electing a new speaker in parliament]," he complained.

"They have been calling on us, the people, to take matters into our own hands and defend the country but when we did that, they retreated and called us bullies! This is the ultimate betrayal and they should be ashamed of themselves!" Sotir told BIRN on Thursday.

Party diehards say they are angry that VMRO DPMNE failed to prevent the election of a new speaker of parliament, Talat Xaferi, on April 27, which paves the way for the election of the new government.

They say the party has failed to protect its own supporters who stormed the parliament building that night, and now face criminal prosecution.

"You either react or it is time for new people. It is enough talking, it is time for action," Pance Dibranov wrote on VMRO DPMNE's Facebook page. "If you [VMRO DPMNE] defend us like this, I ask you to stop doing it," he added.

Many supporters have turned to Facebook to demand that the party, which still controls the interim government, start arresting opposition MPs for attempting what...