English
The electoral system must allow the diaspora to see Macedonia as its own country, said Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, after SDSM and Levica submitted thousands of non-sensical amendments to block the adoption of the Electoral Code. The left is objecting to the inclusion of a system of electronic voting for the Macedonian citizens living abroad – that is meant to compensate for the fact that Macedonia has relatively few diplomatic missions and only token numbers of voters show up for election day.
SDSM, when it was in power, with its policies and the disasters it caused, prompted many of our citizens to run away from Macedonia and seek their fortune elsewhere. Now SDSM is punishing these voters for a second time, preventign them to vote in our elections, said Mickoski, who wants the system to be introduced after the next general elections, and to begin with the 2029 presidential elections.
The Prime Minister noted that Levica had agreed to the Electoral Code, but then, at the last moment, decided to vote against it and help SDSM block it.
The most important thing to Levica was to secure funding for themselves. We agreed to everything they wanted, we provided more funding for their electoral campaigns, they promised not to filibuster the law and to abstain from voting – in an attempt to falsely present themselves before their voters. For four months they negotiated with all the political groups and it turned out they were lying to our faces, said Mickoski.