Macedonian parties against Albanian parties for the election of the president in the Assembly

2024-02-23 19:47:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Macedonian parties against Albanian parties for the election of the president in

The two main Macedonian parties, the ruling Social Democratic League (LSDM) and the opposition VMRO DPMNE, on Friday, February 23, expressed their opposition to the request of the ruling Democratic Union for Integration (BDI) and the united Albanian opposition for the election of the president of North Macedonia in the Assembly, and not through direct elections.

The chairman of DUI, Ali Ahmeti, on Thursday during the presentation of his party's candidate for president, Bujar Osmani, said that DUI's election campaign will focus on the demand that in the future the president be elected in the Assembly, while in addition to the president, a vice president should also be elected, who would be Albanian.

Arben Taravari, the candidate for president of the Albanian opposition, which consists of four political parties, also presented such a request on Wednesday.

In addition, Taravari demanded that the Constitution stipulate that one of the three main positions in the state belongs to Albanians - the president, the speaker of the Assembly or the prime minister. The vice-president of VMRO DPMNE, Aleksandar Nikollovski, said that the request of the president of DUI, Ali Ahmeti, will never be accepted as it represents "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 that they want to "rule forever".

"I am aware that Ali Ahmeti [chairman of DUI] and Artan Grubi [deputy prime minister], who promoted this idea, would like to rule forever in such a way that there is serious party influence in 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", declared Nikolovski.

The chairman of the Social Democratic League, at the same time the former prime minister Dimitar Kovacevski, said that DUI's request was never discussed in the party bodies, nor in the meetings with Ahmet.

He reminded DUI that the amendment of the Constitution requires two-thirds of the votes of the deputies in the Assembly, indicating that such an idea would hardly be able to pass.

"Now we are in the election campaign and we will be able to hear many promises. Someone will promise some things that do not depend only on him. For example, changing the Constitution requires two-thirds of the votes... Until this moment, we have not spoken because it is not a matter of discussion within us. In the elections, the citizens will show what they want, as well as the number of deputies that the parties will win in the Assembly", declared Kovacevski.

The elections for the president of North Macedonia will be held in two rounds, the first on April 24, while the second round will be held together with the parliamentary elections, on May 8./ Rel