Judicial Council Members don’t Survive No-confidence Motions in Parliament

On Tuesday, Parliament voted through the no-confidence motions against Judicial Council members Vesna Dameva, Selim Ademi, Tanja Cacarova-Ilievska, Milazim Mustafa, and Pavlina Crvenkovska.

According to the conclusions, adopted individually, the five members significantly contributed to the endangerment of the judiciary’s professionalism, independence, and reputation, in addition to contributing to the drop of citizen confidence in the sector. As a result of the successful motions, they are losing legitimacy to participate and make decisions within the Council’s work, it was added in the text.

Dameva was the only member that attended the session of the legislative house. There, VMRO-DPMNE MP and Parliamentary Group Coordinator Nikola Micevski said that she should stop portraying herself as a victim and instead respond to the findings Parliament had had and highlighted the whole time.

“If that was not the case, I would be the first to stand in your defence”, he stated.

In response, Dameva said had faced pressures since her election as member, as well as constant disparaging and challenging of her competence and expertise. She said she was asking MPs not to tarnish her family, and then left the session, explaining she was in a rush to get to the Council for a session of the body.

MPs of SDSM and the DUI-led European Front left the hall, too, after their representatives had said they were against the motions.

According to SDSM MP Oliver Spasovski, the majority is bringing down the constitutional order and thus delivering a blow to the judicial system and attacking the rule of law. However, VMRO-DPMNE’s MPs said the SDSM, DUI, and Dameva “running away” confirmed that the motions were founded.

On the other hand, Levica MPs stayed and voted in favour because, as parliamentarian Borislav Krmov said, a message must be sent to the judiciary.