North Macedonia’s Parliament on Tuesday voted to extend the state of crisis nationwide by another six months in a bid to protect public health and curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the new decision, the state of crisis ends on December 31, 2021 instead of on June 30, 2021.
VMRO-DPMNE MPs voted against the extension. The opposition lawmakers said it is unnecessary to extend the state of crisis as the number of new coronavirus infections is dropping. They warned that it is being done so as to pave the way for manipulations at the October local elections.
Before the vote, MP Bojan Stojanovski urged the government to send to Parliament analyses and assessment of the risk of the pandemic and the need to extend the state of crisis.
“We haven’t been given such document. The state of crisis might be misused for the coming local elections,” he stated
On Tuesday, lawmakers returned to the Macedonia Hall after working from the Big Dome Hall over the past several months.
