Opposition parties in North Macedonia have called on the ruling parties, the Social Democratic Union (SDSM) and the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), to convene a leaders’ meeting as soon as possible to determine the date of the parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for 2024.
The request from VMRO-DPMNE and the Albanian Opposition Front followed the Speaker of the Parliament, Talat Xhaferi’s call on Thursday for the parties to reach a decision on the upcoming elections as soon as possible. Otherwise, he said, by the end of the year, he would declare the elections at the earliest possible date based on constitutional determinations.
According to Xhaferi, regular parliamentary elections can be held between May 5 and July 15, 2024, with presidential elections on April 25, the first round, and May 8, 2024, the second round at the latest.
He has said that if the parties agree to hold two separate elections, they can be held on May 5 or May 8 of next year.
The leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, said he would accept any meeting that the ruling parties set to determine the election date.
The Macedonian opposition has also dropped the demand for early elections but has requested that the regular elections be held within the first possible legal deadline.
“Let them sit down and decide. How they decide, we will accept. Let them decide whether to free society. They can decide on May 5 or May 8, and we will accept it. They can also decide on other similar dates; let them decide. It would be madness to have separate elections and spend citizens’ money. We are ready to participate whenever they schedule a final meeting for the election dates,” Mickoski declared.
However, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovačevski said there was no need for a leaders’ meeting since there were working groups within the Ministry of Justice to address election-related issues, inviting VMRO-DPMNE to join them.
“As for the conduct of elections, there is already a working group at the Ministry of Justice, where all political parties have delegated their representatives. Only VMRO-DPMNE has not delegated its representative. Therefore, I encourage them to appoint their representative, because one or two parties cannot decide on an election process in which 30 or more political parties have participated,” Kovačevski stated.
However, this group within the Ministry of Justice does not represent the Albanian opposition parties that form the United Front. They have also called for a swift determination of the election date, arguing that the current Government has lost legitimacy.
“This government has been delegitimized, and the citizens are eagerly waiting for elections to remove the current parties from the seats of power. The sooner they realize it, the better for the country. Any further opposition will create the potential for a constitutional crisis, which will have very damaging consequences in the medium term. Therefore, DUI and SDSM must understand and accept that they can no longer discuss what will happen after the elections,” stated Bilall Kasami, the leader of the Besa Movement.
The Albanian opposition announced that it would run with common candidates for parliament and a presidential candidate for North Macedonia but called for both election cycles to be held on the same day.
“Because we are in an economic crisis, and the citizens are tired, our stance is that there is no need to call on citizens to vote twice and incur double costs. As the difference between the two election cycles for president and parliament is only two or three months, our stance is to have a single election, or they can be combined,” stated Izet Mexhiti, the leader of the Democratic Movement.
In some cases, the ruling parties have emphasized that they would also accept early parliamentary elections if opposition parties support constitutional changes to include the Bulgarian minority in its preamble, as a condition for the continuation of European integration negotiations.
