Representatives of political parties in North Macedonia agreed on Monday that the parliamentary election will take place on July 15, and the country's President, Stevo Pendarovski, declared an eight-day state of emergency nationwide, which will enable the caretaker government to decide on the implementation of protective measures and election laws for the vote amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic.

The election was originally scheduled for April 12, but was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, which has so far infected more than four thousand and killed nearly two hundred people in North Macedonia. Only on Monday, 103 new cases were diagnosed.

The country has been led by an interim government after former Prime Minister, Zoran Zaev of the centre-left Social Democrats, decided to step down in protest of EU’s failure to set a date for opening the accession talks with Skopje.

The EU later decided to start the process as soon as the negotiating framework was decided on.

President Pendarovski said on Monday he expected the early election in July “to be fair, free and democratic and in line with the country’s European perspective.”