Skopje, 11 August 2025 (MIA) – The local election process will not be hindered after the State Election Commission revoked the 2024 handbook regulating the signature collection procedure according to the Electoral Code, said Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski on Monday. The State Election Commission (SEC) is legally obliged to adopt a new one. It depends only on SEC what it will include, according to him.

Asked by reporters whether a new electoral law could be passed after the SEC 2024 handbook was revoked, Mickoski said the legislation has been stuck in Parliament for months due to “an unrealistic demand by a political party.”

“The Electoral Code has been in parliamentary procedure for months after being completed. As far as I know, it is being blocked by an opposition party whose demands lack any logic. One of the demands is that any SEC member, regardless of the majority, is given the right to put a veto and it has to be absolute. It’s unheard of everywhere in the world. In other words, they don’t want to see this legislation being passed. If there is political will, the government coalition is absolutely ready to include this item in the agenda and be done with it,” Mickoski said speaking to members of the media after overseeing works for the construction of a school sports hall in Skopje’s Petrovec.

The electoral code, he reiterated, has been stuck in Parliament after being aligned by the political parliamentary parties.

“Unfortunately, it is one of the few legislations that can be subjected to filibustering by the political parties in Parliament,” the PM noted.

Now, Mickoski added, it is up to the SEC to decide since it has the mechanisms to pass the handbook.

Asked whether it would mean that the independent candidates should collect signatures again to take part in the elections, Mickoski said that SEC should be asked this question. “Since they revoked the old one, SEC should pass a new one according to the law,” stated the prime minister.

On Saturday, the State Election Commission at a session passed a conclusion revoking the 2024 handbook regulating the signature collection procedure according to the Electoral Code.

The handbook, according to SEC head Boris Kondarko, was revoked as a result of the Constitutional Court decision rescinding Articles 61 and 62 of the Electoral Code, which regulated the number/percentage of signatures to nominate lists of a group of voters.

Photo: MIA