Skopje, 14 January 2026 (MIA) — Wednesday's almost three-hour meeting of political party leaders initiated by Prime Minister and VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski was surprisingly constructive, Levica leader Dimitar Apasiev told a press conference Wednesday.

According to Apasiev, this was the first time that a leaders meeting had been steered toward a specific goal. He said meeting participants agreed to adopt a new Electoral Code by June.

"The modalities will now be discussed. A single electoral district, with or without an electoral census; open or closed lists. Communication will continue at the level of parliamentary group whips and certain government ministers," the Levica leader said.

Meeting participants also discussed scrapping the caretaker government. It could be done either immediately, ahead of the next parliamentary election — or ahead of the election after, depending on SDSM, Apasiev said.

He said they had also discussed the ombudsman issue and Levica had proposed "a Solomonic solution."

"To elect a member of the Roma community because we believe they are the community most discriminated against and have no levers of power; neither ministers nor lawmakers; one mayor, if I'm not mistaken," Apasiev said, highlighting that the office of the public protector was "a constitutional category that should belong to the Roma community."

The leaders did not find common ground on economic issues such as the minimum wage that Levica wanted to push through at the request of workers and unions. Levica's proposals regarding MPs' travel expenses and their right to receive their salary for some time after their mandate ends were also dismissed.

"We did not find an understanding on these two topics though various variants were discussed," Apasiev said, adding that ultimately the suggestions were "unacceptable."

Levica also put forth a proposal for the state to pay damages to the victims and bereaved families of the Kochani nightclub fire but it "fell on deaf ears."

Asked why, Apasiev said various reasons were given, such as that the nightclub was privately owned and was not a public facility like the COVID-19 modular hospital in Tetovo that caught on fire in 2021. Others had said there were enough projects underway for Kochani.

"We believe it's not enough and we'll continue to insist," the Levica leader said. 

"But this is a sensitive topic, which is why we didn't insist on it so much given the conditions the meeting was held in. 

"It was held in a really constructive atmosphere, which surprised me," he said. mr/

Фото: МИА