by: ZHARKO TRAJANOSKI
I really like civic initiatives for direct democracy – a topic on which I have also held trainings as a civic activist. That’s why I was curious to see how the civic platform “Green Human City” would function and the electronic form “My candidate”.
On the website of Green Human City, there was a call “Run for GHC”, with rules on how to run for a “non-partisan and independent list of candidates for council members of the City of Skopje, at the local elections in 2021”.
By submitting a candidature, you were supposed to confirm that:
Item 4: “I am not a current member of any party, and have not been in the past five years”.
And, now, what can we conclude after the main candidates of GHC have become known?
1) The main candidate for mayor does not meet the main condition of not being a member of any party in the past years. Not only has she been a member of a party, but was also in the Executive Board of the political party DOM, when as party staff was appointed for state secretary in a ministry, and then also director of the state inspectorate until a month ago!
2) And the holder of the so-called “non-partisan and independent list of candidates for council members of the City of Skopje” also does not meet the condition of not being a member of any party in the last 5 years. Four years ago, she was holder of the list of the “Levica” party for the City of Skopje, led the campaign on behalf of the party by referring to the party program, and was convincing the public that she is a member of the “Levica” party
Just two questions:
Can we trust candidates who say they advocate for direct democracy, but in practice violate the conditions for candidacy that they themselves have set?
Can it be a matter of a “non-partisan and independent list of candidates for council members”, when the holder of the list and candidate for mayor of Skopje have entered politics and city and state institutions as party candidates?
I think not, but what do you think?
Translation: N. Cvetkovska
The article is a personal view of the author.
