An important progress towards solving the political crisis in Macedonia was made on Monday as resigned Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski confirmed that early parliamentary elections will be held on April 24 as had been agreed in the summer of last year.

The holding of the early elections is part of the agreement reached by the four largest parties in Macedonia in June and July 2015 with the mediation of the EU.

Gruevski submitted his resignation on Friday in order to allow for a period of 100 days before the holding of early elections.

His resignation is to be followed by the appointment of a caretaker government which will be entrusted with the organisation of the early elections.

Also on Monday, Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski accepted the resignation of Gruevski which had been submitted on Friday.

The resignation of the prime minister also ends the terms of all other government members, the Macedonian Information Agency (MIA) informs.

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov has to entrust Emil Dimitriev, who has been nominated as as an interim prime minister by the ruling VMRO-DPMNE part, with a mandate to form a caretaker government.

MPs from the ruling party submitted on Monday a draft decision for dissolution of parliament, which should enter into force on February 24.

European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn visited Macedonia on Friday in order to meet with the leaders of the four largest parties and assess the progress on the implementation of the agreement.

However the latest round of talks seemed to be on the verge of failure as the largest opposition SDSM party expressed objection to the date of the elections.

The fears of SDSM are that there will be no ample amount of time to check the voting lists are up-to-date.

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