Macedonian Parliament Holds First Session Amid Protests

Trajko Veljanovski was re-elected as Parliament Speaker | Photo by: Macedonian Parliament

The June 5 elections confirmed the supremacy of the conservative VMRO DPMNE party of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, which again holds most seats in the parliament.

The party is now in the final stages of talks with its partner, the ethnic Albnian Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, to form a government, which are taking place to the backdrop of daily protests in Skopje following the death of a young man, beaten to death by police on election day.

 The first test for the ruling majority came with the election of the parliament speaker on Saturday, during which 70 legislators in the 123 seat parliament voted for the re-election of Trajko Veljanovski of VMRO DPMNE.

During the session about thousand, mainly young people protested in front of the parliament over the killing of 22-year-old Martin Neskovski from Skopje by a police officer who later turned himself in.

The brutal act sparked public outrage throughout the country and peaceful anti-police protests in the capital since June 5.

In an attempt to raise awareness about the case, protestors lay down on the pavement, waving black flags in a sign of grief for the lost life, as politicians passed by.

Protestors were calling for politicians to make changes to the law which would provide more civil control over the police force.

Police minister Gordana Jankulovska avoided the demonstrators and used the back entrance to enter the parliament building. Protesters have been demanding a meeting with her as they hold her morally responsible for what happened. 

Young people surrounded the parliament building | Photo by: Martin Stojanovski

She previously announced she is not planning to resign over this case.

 Meanwhile, media reported that government talks are nearing completion. According to reports, the DUI will hold five ministries in Gruevski’s government and will have two vice prime ministers, an increase on the allocation in the last coalition.

 However, it is looking increasingly likely that the junior partner will not get the desired Finance Ministry, which appears destined for Zoran Stavrevski, who occupied the position in the last government, nor the Police Ministry, which will probably remain under Gordana Jankulovska.

The Vice Prime Minister for monitoring the Ohrid peace deal stays in DUI’s hands and it is most likely that they will also get the Vice Prime Minister seat for European affairs, which was previously reserved for VMRO DPMNE.

According to reports, the DUI will also now have the Defence Ministry as well as the Justice Ministry.

 The DUI retains the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Local Governance, as well as one minister without portfolio.

An unnamed DUI official briefed local Dnevnik daily on Monday that they had secured a verbal agreement from the Prime Minister on several of their political demands, including more voice in shaping the state budget, wider use of the Albanian language and flag in the country and a solution to the former ethnic Albanian insurgents from the 2001 conflict who are demanding state pensions.

Albanians make one quarter of the Macedonian population and it is customary that the ruling Macedonian party invites the winner in the Albanian block to join the government.