Macedonia's Election Commission to Get New Head

On March 15, parliament will elect new a president of the State Election Commission, SEC, and vote on changes to the electoral code and the Law on the Judicial Council.

Parliament will also vote on the establishment of a temporary committee to review the electoral roll, the speaker, Trajko Veljanoski, said on Thursday.

The head of the electoral commission resigned last week amid political maneuvering between Nikola Gruevski's centre-right government and the Social Democrat-led opposition over the date of early elections that both blocs say they want.

Veljanoski said he was informed that the Social Democrats will submit their own motion proposing a SEC president. "This will be discussed at a session scheduled on March 15," he added.

At a coordination meeting between the parties on Thursday, the justice minister, Mihajlo Manevski, presented the draft text of the electoral code, developed in line with OSCE/ODIHR remarks.

"If the opposition doesn't end its boycott [of parliament] by Monday, the text of the laws will be defined and discussed at the March 15 session," Veljanoski said. The opposition did not attend the meeting.

"We will not allow to be blackmailed by certain MP groups," added Veljanoski, referring to conditions set by the Social Democrats on the voting of laws. Changes to the electoral code must be adopted by a two-thirds majority.

"If a motion to dissolve parliament is submitted, I will immediately schedule a session, but so far no motion has been submitted," Veljanoski said.

The Social Democrats began a boycott of parliament in late January, after courts froze the bank account of A1, the most prominent TV station in the country.

The opposition has conditioned its return to parliament on the unfreezing of the pro-opposition TV station's bank account, arguing that Prime Minister Gruevski effectively pulls the strings in the judiciary.
 
The opposition says it wants to see improvements to the election law, elimination from the electoral roll of fictional voters and the elimination of political interference in the judiciary before elections take place.

However, Gruevski’s VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition holds an absolute majority in parliament, which gives it the power to call snap polls without opposition consent. By law, elections are held 60 days after parliament votes to dissolve.

If elections happen without their approval, the Social Democrats have said they might boycott them. All other smaller parties have accepted the idea for early elections, saying they are ready for a face-off.