Ilija Dimovski

Macedonia's ruling VMRO DPMNE says the fact that some of its top officials, including its leader, are under criminal investigations, need not prevent those persons from running in the December 11 general election.

Officially, the party says consultations about its list of candidates are still ongoing and that they have yet to decide whether to name Gruevski as the frontrunner.

The leader of the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM , Zoran Zaev, said his party will not participate in the early elections set for June 5, insisting that key reforms, including those in the media to ensure objective election coverage, as well as cleaning up the electoral roll, had not been achieved.

The ruling majority in parliament on Monday verified the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, voted to dissolve parliament and elected a new government, paving the way for elections on April 24.

Commissioner Hahn told the media in Macedonia that despite the "bad day" of talks between government and opposition parties, he remained optimistic that a deal on the appointment of new ministers would be done.

Talks between the government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and the opposition were set to resume Tuesday.