DUI issued a reaction over the decision of SEC to allow the reduction of the number of municipal council seats in 14 municipalities, claiming that the ultimate purpose of the government through this is systematic discrimination of Albanians in North Macedonia.
“This decision returns us to the time before 2001, when the will of the ethnic Albanians was suppressed, and they were greatly discriminated by the institutions of the state. The government decided to go against all relevant laws and even against the Constitution, in order to reduce the number of council seats in municipalities where majority of the population is Albanian, like Gostivar, Kicevo, Struga, Tearce, Vrapciste etc. This shameful attempt to supress Albanians shall not go on without a response, for Albanians have the strength to punish these discriminatory policies”, they reacted from DUI.
Tetovo Mayor and VLEN Co-leader Bilall Kasami denied the claims of DUI about ethnic motives behind the decision for reduction of the municipal council seats.
“According to this decision, municipalities where majority of the population is Macedonian lose far more than those where the majority is of Albanian ethnicity. Henceforth, I would just ask the Constitutional Court to take a stance concerning this decision sooner, so that there are no elements by which someone would dispute the results of the upcoming local election. Let us all refrain from abusing this situation for scoring minor political points”, Kasami said.
VLEN also issued a reaction, in which they claim that it was DUI that created this situation in the first place, during the implementation of the 2021 population census, when DUI was in power.
“It is quite paradoxical that the party that voices the greatest concerns about the representation of Albanians is the very same party that cooked up the population census in 2021 and all its regulations. The very law for the census was created by Artan Grubi, Bujar Osmani, Arber Ademi and Fatmir Besimi. These people created the law which treats the Albanians from the diaspora as strangers in their own country. Now, it is up to us to repair the damage that DUI has done to the Albanians in this country”, they reacted from VLEN.