According to State Election Commission (SEC) President Boris Kondarko, it is Article 60 of the Electoral Code that says everyone (parties, coalitions, and a group of voters) has a right to run in elections.
As he stresses, if Parliament doesn’t adopt the changes before the start of the legal deadline to collect signatures (10 days after the elections are scheduled), the SEC will issue a handbook on nominations regarding independent candidates. However, independent initiatives of citizens have told RFE Macedonian that they don’t believe statements made by representatives of institutions without there being official and clear rules on participation.
“We are continuing to collect signatures and form a party”, Gorjan Jovanovski of Zelen Human Grad (Green Humane City) points out.
Nezavisni za Karpos (Independents for Karpos), Sansa za Centar (Chance for Centar), and Zelenite od Gazi Baba (The Greens from Gazi Baba), which are forming one party, too, say that despite’s Kondarko’s announcement about a handbook, they want to see an official document from the SEC.
“What we heard is a statement by an individual, even though he is the SEC President”, they explain.
Chance for Centar has said on social media it is continuing to collect signatures to register a party in order to avoid legal uncertainty being created by parties. Among the nine citizens’ initiatives demanding equal participation are also the Bitola-based Poinaku (Different) list and the Tetovo-based Podobro za Tetovo (Better for Tetovo) one.