Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi dismissed the idea of pushing the Election Code changes through an expedited procedure. Xhaferi’s DUI party bogged down the changes proposed unilaterally by its coalition partner SDSM, which aim to abolish the six electoral districts in favor of a single district.

Despite the fact that there is no precedent for changing the electoral rules so close before the elections, and without agreement from all major parties, SDSM said it will make another push to get its way next week. DUI submitted thousands of amendments to the proposed changes, which block the process, after declaring that the change will reduce the number of ethnic Albanian members of Parliament.

Following the SDSM request, Xhaferi explained the technical requirements for what the ruling party wants, and said that there is no option to expedite the procedure. He said that a number of SDSM officials in the Parliament are pushing him to allow the changes to be put to a vote, but said that he can not allow it.