Parliamentary Debate over New Government Held Over Weekend

The Parliamentary session and debate over the election of the new government proposed by PM-designate Dimitar Kovacevski started on Saturday afternoon. MPs from both the ruling majority and the opposition were voicing their personal and their respective parties’ positions concerning the new government. At the start of the debate, VMRO-DPMNE MP Dafina Stojanoska said that even though SDSM claims to have nominated a new government to take over the country, the cabinet proposed by PM-designate Kovacevski is full of people who are not new to the public and that have nothing new or productive to offer the country and the citizens. Rashela Mizrahi from VMRO-DPMNE said that the new government barely maintains the majority in the parliament and it has no legitimacy because it is not elected via parliamentary election. Democratic Union Leader and MP Pavle Trajanov on the other hand called for immediate professionalisation of state institutions, adding that they should not be shelter for incapable people only because they belong to a certain political party. His calls for concrete action for improvement of state institutions was criticised by the MPs from VMRO-DPMNE, with their MPs labelling the MPs from the smaller political parties in the ruling majority as “bad politicians, but good relatives”, and told them not to demand functionality of institutions all while they continue to support the government, which, according to VMRO-DPMNE, continues to destroy the state and institutional system. MP Maja Moracanin from DOM found these statements offensive, and called upon the Parliament Speaker to intervene in accordance with the Ethical Code for MPs. The debate continued on Sunday, with SDSM MP Daniela Koleva saying that the new government draws its legitimacy from the results of the parliamentary election from 2020, expressing hope that the Parliament will endorse and approve the new cabinet by midnight on Sunday. VMRO-DPMNE MP Zoranco Jovancev replied to her that all the ministers proposed as part of the new government are in fact people who support, as he said, the hybrid regime ran by Zaevism. Levica Leader and MP Dimitar Apasiev said that PM-designate Dimitar Kovacevski is not proper representative of the middle class in the country, as a social democrat should be, according to him. He also accused DUI and its members of disrespect of the national symbols like the Macedonian language, anthem, flag etc. “Ali Ahmeti so far ‘eliminated’ 8 PMs, you shall be the 9^th,” Apasiev told Kovacevski. Around 10:00 p.m. on Sunday Speaker Talat Xhaferi gave a 30-minute recess for coordination among the MP groups.