Skopje, 30 July 2021 (MIA) – President Stevo Pendarovski won’t sign the Electoral Code bill amendments into law in their present form as it requires independent candidates for the October local elections to collect signatures of least 2% of voters in a municipality. Pendarovski signed into law the amendments to the citizenship law passed 57-32 in Parliament on Thursday. The head of state would sign into law the amendments to the Electoral Code provided that a wider party consensus was secured over the 2% threshold for independent candidates. It is inappropriate to change the Electoral Code in such a short time ahead of the October local elections and it’s not in line with OSCE/ODIHR recommendations. It’s not something that should be done six months ahead of elections, it was stressed at a press briefing at the President’s office. A group of lawmakers has already filed a motion to Parliament on amending the Electoral Code. In addition to OSCE/ODIHR recommendations, the amendments include a compromise proposal on the way the coming local elections should be organized. Open lists are part of the proposal alongside the 3% threshold for preferential municipal councilor candidates, which has come under fire mainly from smaller parties. There has been also backlash regarding the 2% threshold for independent candidates running in the elections. In a reaction about the Electoral Code amendments, the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption said adoption of the amendments very close to the launch of election-related activities is against the recommendations included in the OSCE/ODIHR report on the 2017 local elections. “The OSCE/ODIHR report said that changes to the Electoral Code, adopted in 2017 in fast-tracked procedure lacking wide-ranging consultations, are against the obligations stemming from OSCE membership and that it recommends the number of signatures for independent candidates should be standardized at one percent of registered voters according to international good practices. It also said that alternative methods for signature collection should be considered so as to reduce the risk of intimidation,” the anti-corruption commission said in a press release. Earlier, asked about amendments to the Electoral Code, Speaker Talat Xhaferi fell short of saying whether they will pass before MPs go on summer recess as of August 1. “The Committee for Political System should finish the amendments. More than 700 have been filed,” he said.