Amendments to Electoral Law in Parliamentary Procedure Tuesday

The amendments to the Electoral Code envisaging the introduction of one constituency, submitted by MPs from the smaller parliamentary parties, are scheduled for Tuesday’s session of the Parliamentary Committee on Political System and Inter-Community Relations in the first reading, but so far there is no consensus on their adoption. MP Pavle Trajanov from the Democratic Union believes that the process of harmonization lasted almost a year and expects the draft law to pass the Commission, because the text is fully supported by VMRO-DPMNE, and SDSM gave its consent in principle, but he does not rule out a blockade. “According to public statements, more than 90 MPs support the changes North Macedonia to be a single constituency, so it is possible to pass, I do not say no, but it is possible for someone to block the law. Whether some of the parties, DUI or some other party, will decide to block the law can all take place in the Parliament, let’s see the arguments for and against. I expect most MPs to be in favour of adopting amendments to this Electoral Code,” says Trajanov. According to him, DUI and other parties from the Albanian bloc have already violated the principle of adequate ethnic representation or to build consensus on some issues, pointing to the recent election of the Government. Arber Ademi from DUI in a statement to the media in the Parliament reiterated the party’s position that changes to such important, important legal solutions require a broader interethnic and inter-party consensus, and that they are not in favour of changing the existing election model with six constituencies. The opposition VMRO-DPMNE confirms that they will support the draft law, in order to hold early elections. The proposed amendments were submitted a year ago. DUI and the Alliance of Albanians opposed this decision, and SDSM gave its consent in principle to the draft law, but advocated its adoption by consensus.