On Tuesday, the State Election Commission (SEC) didn’t adopt the guidelines concerning the number of members of councils of municipalities and the City of Skopje because SEC member Ditmire Shehu asked for the decision to be adopted by consensus, unanimously, citing Electoral Code provisions that, she stressed, provided for a SEC member to be able to request such a vote in the event of the decision concerning non-majority communities.
Shehu also stated that she found it questionable for such guidelines to be adopted on the basis of an existing decision by the Government that, she emphasised, has reduced the number of council members on the basis of the census where there were categories of both resident and non-resident population.
In that regard, the SEC member stressed that the number was determined on the basis of the Local Self-Government Law, not in line with a decision by the Government.
When it comes to the SEC’s decision according to which independent candidates will be able to run in the elections if they collect at least two signatures, SDSM’s stand is that there is a risk of election chaos.
On the other hand, VLEN’s Izet Mexhiti, who’s his party’s Cair mayoral candidate, doesn’t believe there will be chaos involving long ballot papers.
Kisela Voda Mayor Orce Gjorgjievski, who’s VMRO-DPMNE’s mayoral candidate for Skopje, expects a democratic process too, that is, he sees no issue in the fact that independent candidates will be able to run in the elections on the basis of just two collected signatures.
However, Zelen Human Grad (Green Humane City) said it was not giving up on the idea to form a political platform since that was the only way to ensure participation in elections.