The two main Macedonian parties, the Social Democratic Union (SDSM) in power and the opposition VMRO-DPMNE, on Friday, February 23, expressed opposition to the request of the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) in power and the united Albanian opposition for the election of the President of North Macedonia in the Assembly, rather than through direct elections.
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| The building of the parliament of North Macedonia |
The leader of DUI, Ali Ahmeti, on Thursday during the presentation of his party's candidate for president, Bujar Osmani, said that DUI's campaign in elections would focus on the demand for the future president to be elected in the Assembly, and in addition to the president, a vice president, who would be Albanian, should also be elected.
A similar request was also presented on Wednesday by Arben Taravari, the opposition's Albanian candidate for president, consisting of four political parties.
In addition, Taravari requested that the Constitution specify that one of the three main state posts should belong to Albanians - the president, the speaker of the Assembly, or the prime minister.
The Vice President of VMRO-DPMNE, Aleksandar Nikolovski, stated that the request of DUI leader, Ali Ahmeti, would never be accepted as it represents a "suspension of democracy".
"Any attempt to suspend democracy is just an attempt to exclude the people from the decision-making process," he said.
According to him, the idea promoted by Ali Ahmeti and Artan Grubi is an idea they want to "permanently dominate".
"I am aware that Ali Ahmeti [leader of DUI] and Artan Grubi [deputy prime minister], who promoted this idea, would like to permanently dominate in a way that would have serious party influence on the election of the Government and the president of the country, and this is undemocratic, it is an attempt to protect crime and corruption in North Macedonia," Nikollovski stated.
The leader of the Social Democratic Union, former Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski, said that DUI's request has never been discussed either in the party organs or in meetings with Ahmeti.
He reminded DUI that amending the Constitution requires two-thirds of the votes of the deputies in the Assembly, making it clear that such an idea would be difficult to pass.
"Now we are in an election campaign, and we will hear a lot of promises. Someone will promise things that depend not only on him. For example, amending the Constitution requires two-thirds of the votes... Until this moment, we have not spoken because it is not a matter of discussion among us. Citizens in elections will show what they want as well as the number of deputies that parties will win in the Assembly," Kovacevski declared.
The elections for the president of North Macedonia will be held in two rounds, the first on April 24, and the second round will be held together with the parliamentary elections on May 8.