Local Election to Take Place on 17 October, PM Zaev Claims

PM Zoran Zaev said that, according to the agreement between the working groups of the political parties, the date on which the local election of 2021 will take place shall remain 17 October. “There are no changes to the date, which is also determined in accordance with the Electoral Code. There were certain dilemmas about a three-day overlap with the population census activities, but in the end, we concluded that this will not affect the local election,” PM Zaev said. He also confirmed that the new threshold for submission of independent lists with the changes to the Electoral Code will be raised to 2% of the total number of voters in the respective municipality or region. “For example, if the municipality has 10,000 voters, the independent candidates need to collect 200 signatures for support of their list. If there are 50,000 voters in a municipality, they will require 1,000 signatures for an independent list etc.,” PM Zaev explained. From the smaller parties and political initiatives, they voiced dissatisfaction with the new threshold, saying it compromises their chances for running at the upcoming election.