The rules of Parliament clearly state that the events that transpired today are unlawful. The Parliament rejected the proposed PPO law on state prosecutors when only 74 representatives voted in favor. But, against the rules, Speaker Xhaferi put the law to a second vote when 80 representatives were in favor.Even though it requires 81 votes to reach the necessary two-thirds majority for such systemic laws, Xhaferi declared the law to be adopted.

According to the Parliament rules, once a vote is cast, the Speaker can only declare the outcome. A second vote on the same law is possible only if ten members of Parliament ask for one, and it is conducted by individual voting. This was not the case today. The opposition VMRO-DPMNE party declared the second vote invalid and called on President Stevo Pendarovski not to sign the PPO law.

The initial vote tally clearly showed that some of the members of Parliament who were necessary for the ruling majority to reach 81 votes did not vote in favor of the propsoal. These include DUI party leader Ali Ahmeti, his DUI party ally Xhevad Ademi and the famously turncoat MPs Amdi Bajram and Liljana Popovska. On the illegal second vote, they were recorded as voting in favor.

SDSM lost one of the “Gang of eight” members during the vote. Former Culture Minister Elizabeta Kanceska – Milevska did not vote for the proposal in either attempt. She was pressured to vote for the imposed name change, after she faced criminal charges from both the Special Prosecutor’s Office and the PPO office of public prosecutors. Unlike some other members of the “Gang of eight”, Kanceska did not get a definite amnesty – her cases are dragged out in court in a de-facto amnesty, but she is still in legal jeopardy. In her stead, the blackmailed “Gang of eight” got a new member, Panco Minov, who had his son hired in the Parliament shortly before the vote, likely as part of a “compensation package”.