Prime Minister and leader of ruling political party SDSM, Zoran Zaev, called on political stakeholders and the opposition to reach a consensus regarding election legislation.
However, he warned that there are other aspect at play and the situation is far from simple.
“We remain committed to adopting election-related laws by consensus,” Zaev said, stressing the importance of implementing in OSCE/ODIHR recommendations in legislation to continue the process of democratization, but make sure it contains the position of the opposition.
SDSM, he added, is in favor of establishing a single electoral district and so are smaller parties.
“Certain issues aren’t just up to us. We support the idea for single electoral district and so do smaller parties, but not larger ones. Adoption of the law requires consensus,” the PM noted.
“If the proposal is put to a vote, we’ll vote in line with our position,” he added, but said that “the party with most MPs has to worry about consensus, because otherwise other parties might boycott the election.”
Moreover, the Prime Minister told reporters during an event with Skopje mayor Petre Shilegov on Friday that he and opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski are yet to agree on changes to the electoral code, but will do everything to ensure successful talks.
“We could’ve easily opposed the idea for fingerprint scanning idea due to the COVID-19 situation, but we accepted providing SEC procures scanners quickly. We’re here to help anyway we can,” Zaev noted.
He added that when he was at the helm of the opposition he made the same request to ensure fair and democratic election.
“The process will increase trust, more people will go to polls, ensuring the legitimacy of office holders, in this cases, mayors and municipal councils,” the PM underlined.
