On the first day of the blockade of Parliament, VMRO-DPMNE representatives were able to prevent the adoption of the agenda and stopped the session from starting.

Speaker Talat Xhaferi gave up in his attempt to convene the Parliament after 37 representatives from the opposition sought to speak and filibustered the proceedings. VMRO-DPMNE representative Bojan Stojanovski made a formal proposal to the Parliament, and then a number of his party colleagues sought to speak and support his request, filibustering any progress with the agenda.

VMRO-DPMNE announced that it will block the work of Parliament until the SDSM – DUI coalition agrees to holding early elections. SDSM, DUI and their smaller coalition partners have a bare minimum majority in Parliament, and SDSM badly lost the 2021 local elections, indicating that the party has lost support in the public, but still wants to cling to power even after the resignation of its leader Zoran Zaev as Prime Minister.

The attempt to convene the Parliament will resume tomorrow at noon.