Hristijan Mickoski

After voting in the Parliament for the confidence of the Government, the government and the opposition will implement the agreement reached between Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski for a new composition of the State Election Commission. It will be the first test for the reform package, which brings opposition MPs back to parliament, although the change in the election of SEC members was not on Reinhard Priebe’s list, but an independent decision by political leaders in the country. According to the information, it is a request by VMRO-DPMNE, which SDSM accepted only to satisfy the opposition and to force it to return the Parliament in order to pass the reform laws, which require a two-third majority.

Accordingly, amendments to the Electoral Code should now be adopted in order to change the SEC concept. The model that was agreed during the negotiations in Przino, when there were three members of the SEC from the expert circles and the largest ruling and opposition parties, will no longer be valid. In contrast, it will go to the SEC to function as an administrative body, headed by the Secretary General proposed by the opposition. The composition of the SEC, to be elected also in an announcement, will meet six months before the regular elections and will be in session until the end of the election cycle.