The ruling SDSM party seems determined to make a move on the political scene – by pushing for a recall of the Parliament that dissolved in mid February. There is no legal option to recall the Parilament once it dissolves to make way for general elections, but SDSM has asked its representatives to sign on to a proposal to Speaker Talat Xhaferi to convene a new session.
The elections were supposed to take place on April 12, but preparations were broken off due to the coronavirus epidemic, although legal experts were unable to come up with a way to cancel the vote legally. This left Macedonia in a limbo – the date of the elections passed and there is no Parliament, while the country is run by a Government operating under the powers given to it under a state of emergency which even President Stevo Pendarovski acknowledged should’ve only lasted for the initial 30 days.
The move seems designed to call for early elections in June or July, as Zaev already announced once, before the full brunt of the coming economic crisis and the mishandling of the coronavirus epidemic has been felt in the public. Macedonia is currently worst in the Balkans in terms of Covid-19 mortality, lagging only behind Slovenia, which has conducted more than 10 times the testing Macedonia did. Much of the Government is in imposed self-isolation after they were in contact with infected officials and it was thoroughly unable to control the epidemic once it spread to the first sizable cities like Kumanovo and Prilep.
Meanwhile, the economy is staring into the abyss, with huge projected deficits and job losses expected to push the unemployment rate over 20 percent. SDSM party leader Zoran Zaev made a proposal to fight the crisis by reducing public spending even further via a serious pay cut for public sector employees. After this proposal was thrown out by the Government led by his own party, it settled on a stimulus package which, as a share of GDP, is the second smallest in Europe.
And now, 30 members of Parliament from SDSM and their coalition partners, the bribed and blackmailed “Gang of eight” and several smaller ethnic Albanian parties have signed on the initiative to reconvene the Parliament. VMRO-DPMNE and DUI remain opposed to the idea, with Speaker Talat Xhafer, who comes from DUI, so far refusing to violate the dissolution order.
With a relatively strict curfew still in place, many in the public would be surprised if they were told that elections can take place in a matter of just two months, and a more reasonable date seems to be sometime in autumn, but SDSM seems determined to push for an earlier vote. This would also greatly reduce the turnout, which can again favor the ruling party which has shown it is prepared to change the electoral rules unilaterally and has abused institutions of the state and the judiciary to grab power. The party was even distributing food through the poor, Roma neighborhoods in Kumanovo and Strumica, in violation of its own rules against spreading the virus – the move was likely part of a pre-planned campaign of vote buying that was supposed to take place ahead of the April 12 elections.
VMRO-DPMNE said that the proposal to convene the Parliament comes from people who are now “former members of Parliament”. The party warned that Zaev is trying to secure political advantages in the midst of the epidemic.
Any move outside of what was agreed at the latest meeting of party leaders would violate the principle of political consensus. This is either a private attempt by Zoran Zaev to re-compose the state of affairs based on his deals with the former representatives, or a move to score points in the murky waters, at a time of a crisis impacting the economy and the public health, VMRO-DPMNE said.
The Plusinfo news site also quoted a high level DUI party official saying that the party has not been consulted for this proposal and does not understand the idea behind urgently recalling the Parliament that was already dissolved.
The Government is adopting decisions that have the force of laws. If the idea is to confirm the decisions made by Pendarovski to declare a state of emergency – they can be confirmed by the next Parliament, the official told Plusinfo.
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