Debate on Draft-changes to Electoral Code held in Parliament

The Parliamentary Committee on Political System held in the Parliament on Wednesday a debate over the Draft-changes to the Electoral Code of Macedonia. MPs from SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE attended the debate, but the VMRO-DPMNE MPs left it after the starting presentations. The MPs from DUI and BESA boycotted the debate and did not attend it at all. The law-changes focus on transformation of the current electoral model which divides the territory of Macedonia into 6 electoral districts into a model where the entire territory of the state is a single electoral district, and the lists of MP candidates are open. “This is an initiative of the smaller political parties, which in the current model are not properly represented and rarely acquire seats in the Parliament. The new model will provide fair representation of all parties, and will satisfy criteria for gender equality,” said DOM Leader Liljana Popovska. The initiative was supported by SDSM, but is disputed by VMRO-DPMNE and DUI, which together have filed over 6,000 amendments to the law-changes, which are yet to be fully archived in the Parliament.