SDSM Starts Initiative for Assembling of Parliament

The ruling majority headed by SDSM has so far collected about 30 signatures from MPs in order to initiate assembling of the Parliament of Macedonia. The initiative has so far been signed by MPs from SDSM, NSDP, the independent MP group of VMRO-DPMNE, the Alliance for Albanians, Alternativa and DPA. The main goal of this initiative is to assemble the Parliament so it can confirm the latest decision of the President of Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski for declaring a new state of emergency in duration of 30 days, which took place on 16 April. From SDSM they inform that according to Article 67 from the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, the current Parliament Speaker can assemble the Parliament after its dissolution upon a request from the President of Macedonia or the government, or with an initiative signed by at least 20 MPs. Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi said that there are no legal grounds for a dissolved Parliament to be assembled again, while from his party DUI they claim they are not familiar with the initiative of their ruling allies SDSM. From VMRO-DPMNE they decided to not support this initiative, claiming that the mandates of the MPs signing the initiative have ceased with the dissolution of the Parliament on 12 February. The Parliament was dissolved on 12 February for the parliamentary election which was scheduled for 12 April, but was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.