The Parliament will not work from April 1 due to the pre-election campaign

The Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia will not work from April 1, when the pre-election campaign begins for the presidential elections. The President of Parliament, Talat Xhaferi, says that it is a usual practice for the Parliament not to hold sessions in that period, but leaves the possibility to convene a session if such an urgent need arises.

He outlined at today’s meeting with the media that if in the second election round there is no census and a new president of the state is not elected, then according to the Constitution, the President of Parliament performs the duty in a period of no more than six months. In the meanwhile, said Xhaferi, the procedure of election of a president of the state is repeated, more specifically, new elections are announced.

Equal society is guaranteed with the adoption of the Law on protection against discrimination

Around 100 civil society organizations today in front of Parliament urged for the Law on prevention and protection against discrimination to be adopted.

The draft law has entered the legislative procedure in the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia since July last year.

The civil society organizations expect this law to pass before the upcoming presidential elections, but if this does not happen, then they say they will continue with the pressure in the public.

“The recent legal solution did not achieve the goal, that is, it did not contribute to an efficient and effective protection against discrimination. The Commission on protection against discrimination acted unprofessionally, partial, people without appropriate education were appointed as members, and part of them are known for their negative views towards different categories of citizens”, stated Dragana Drndarevska from the Network for protection against discrimination.

Directorate for the execution of sanctions with its own report on the incidents in the prison in Shutka

The Directorate for the execution of sanctions within the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of North Macedonia has reviewed the Report of the Penal Correctional Facility Prison – Skopje and prepared its Minutes from the extraordinary expert-instructional supervision it performed in the Prison, in which the findings of the Directorate for the execution of sanctions are stated in relation to the February 21 incidents.

“We note that in the Report of the Prison – Skopje, as well as the Minutes of the Directorate for the execution of sanctions, the security procedures of Prison – Skopje are described, which cannot be publically shared because of security risk, as well as elements that may be part of a further procedure of other state bodies, because of which the Report of Prison-Skopje, i.e. the Minutes of the Directorate for the execution of sanctions, cannot be integrally conveyed to the public”, is said from the Ministry.

A certificate with the new name Republic of North Macedonia will be issued until the complete change of documents is made

The Ministry of Interior of the Republic of North Macedonia has informed the public that it will issue, namely, has already started issuing certificates to citizens for documents that have previously been issued from the Ministry that do not contain the new name of the state “Republic of North Macedonia”.

With these certificates, the validity of the documents that are presented abroad are legalized. The certificates are with a new stamp and the new name “Republic of North Macedonia”.

Deskoska: The status of the SPO still not determined, there is no two-thirds majority

The Minister of Justice, Renata Deskoska, stated that the Law on the Public Prosecutor’s Office, with which the final status of the SPO will be known, does not have the support of 80 MPs in Parliament.

“In the Ministry of Justice, a text was drafted in consultation with foreign experts who confirmed that it is a solution that will enable a quality system of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, in which the SPO will have its own role in prosecuting high corruption and, certainly, the continuation of all cases that have been started by the SPO, regardless of whether they are in the phase of indictment, in investigation or pre-investigation. The text of the Ministry of Justice contains these provisions. It has been sent to the MPs, who are supposed to provide a two-thirds majority, and we still do not have confirmation that we have a consent for this law to be sent into parliamentary procedure”, stated Deskoska for the media.

The SCPC with new cases on nepotism and conflict of interests

The State Commission for Prevention of Corruption opend new cases for conflict of interests in the employment of relatives of officials.

Cases will be opened also for officials of the previous government, such as for Igor Janusev, Antonio Milosevski and Kiril Bozinovski. On the list are also relatives of current MPs of the ruling majority, as well as the rector of the “Mother Teresa” University, Azis Polozani, who still has not submitted a declaration of his property.

Two employees in the City of Skopje detained for tax fraud

This morning the police detained the persons with the initials J.S and E.S, working in the department for taxes of the City of Skopje.

According to preliminary information from the MOI, the detained are suspected of abusing power and computer forgery and computer fraud.

Prof. Dr. Blerim Reka independent candidate at the presidential elections

Prof. and former ambassador Blerim Reka on his Facebook profile announced his independent candidacy for president of the state.

“Not being able to respond to all the media and friends, through this announcement I announce my candidacy for independent candidate for President of North Republic of Macedonia, with hope for support. The reasons for this decision are as follows: With Macedonian candidates only, without a single Albanian, this multiethnic society risks of being turned into a mono-ethnic society, and the Albanians being only voters, but not loud ones. Intellectual criticism – without political confrontation, are not enough for changing the situation. They remain only virtual on Facebook, whereas life is real. At the end, history is written by statesmen, while intellectuals only write about history”, wrote Reka. Nevertheless, history is written by statesmen, and intellectuals only write about it”, is written in Reka’s announcement.

А. Petrovska