The working group on the preparation of amendments to the Electoral Code set up by the Ministry of Justice is close to an agreement on the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations, the Ministry of Justice told MIA.

Regarding the election model, the main challenge is to determine the manner of election of mayors, i.e. whether they will be elected in the first or the second round. According political parties, its replacement is to be discussed in the future.

“As regards the first goal, fulfilling the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations, the working group is close to an agreement. It’s about fulfilling many of the recommendations contained in ODIHR’s Final Report on the early parliamentary elections in 2020, but they are still in a working version and will be published after their alignment,” the Ministry told MIA.

Most of the participants in the working group support the view that members of the municipal councils should be elected in open lists.

“However, the main challenge is to determine the manner of election of mayors, i.e. whether they will be elected in the first or the second round,” the Ministry says.

According the Justice Ministry, there’s very little time left to align positions, and amendments to the Electoral Code should be sent to Parliament as soon as possible.

In the Parliament, smaller parties supported by SDSM, submitted two proposals for amendments to the Electoral Code – the first involves introducing a single electoral district, and the second includes open lists and equal representation of men and women. Both are in parliamentary procedure, but no debate has been opened.

Local elections in North Macedonia are scheduled for the second half of October.