Skopje, 12 January 2026 (MIA) - At a media briefing Monday, Parliament Speaker Afrim Gashi told journalists he is in favor of holding regular elections as opposed to early ones.

“I am in favor of the idea of regular elections. Regular adoption of legislation and regular elections. I think, conceptually speaking, we lack political and economic stability. If we hold early elections all the time, we are creating a kind of political and economic instability. I think we should be striving to complete our terms and then let the citizens judge how many of our promises we’ve realized... So, I am in favor of the idea of regular elections, but this is for 61 MPs to decide, and the political will of the MPs is the one that decides when we hold elections,” Gashi said.

Asked if the Przhino-style caretaker government should exist or be scrapped, Gashi said establishing a caretaker government to hold early elections doesnt befit a NATO member state.

“If we look back this was an ad-hoc solution to overcome the political crisis at the time. I think that as a stable government, as a member of NATO, it doesn’t befit us to establish caretaker governments to organize early elections. As we can see, recent elections have been orderly without any significant remarks,” Gashi said.

The Speaker said he does not believe the country is among high-risk countries when it comes to the implementation of democracy and holding elections.

“I don’t think we are a fully mature Scandinavian democracy either. But I also don’t think we are among high-risk countries when it comes to the implementation of democracy and holding elections. I think we’ve made a lot of progress in this area,” Gashi said.

At the briefing, Gashi told journalists he has scheduled a coordination meeting with the parliamentary whips to reach an agreement over the election of a new ombudsman.

“As soon as an agreement is reached, I will immediately convene a session and we will vote. I urge the parliamentary groups to reach an agreement, whether they do so is up to them,” Gashi said. 
Regarding the Electoral Code, the Speaker said he is awaiting a notice from the Minister of Justice, Igor Filkov, before Parliament can establish a working group and begin work.

Photo: Parliament