Skopje, 22 April 2026 (MIA) - At a press conference Wednesday, SDSM leader Venko Filipche said the caretaker government can only be scrapped through consensus, stressing that it is the sole remaining mechanism and guarantee for fair and democratic elections.

The opposition leader urged the withdrawal of the amendments to the Law on Government that would terminate the caretaker government mechanism.

“The legislation is scandalous to say the least, and then they raise other issues as well due to the manner in which they’ve been placed on the agenda, for example the Law on Government, which would terminate the caretaker government after the next cycle, after the next early or regular elections. The caretaker government was implemented with consensus and it can only be terminated with consensus,” Filipche said, noting that due to partisan control of the judiciary and all institutions, the country is once again not mature enough to implement fair and democratic elections.

The opposition leader said great pressure is also being exerted on the judicial bodies.

“We also pointed out that we don’t know who controls the ‘Safe City’ system and how. We don’t know what happens to the thousands of information collected by that system on a daily basis. Will this perhaps be used to follow political rivals, i.e., opposition parties,” Filipche said.

While the amendments would terminate the caretaker government only after the next election cycle, the opposition leader said amendments are also being proposed with which the caretaker ministers won’t be allowed to appoint their own advisors, but will only be able to select advisors from the ones that are already there who, he said, are partisan appointments from the current ruling coalition.

Filipche noted that the law is part of the Reform Agenda, which, he said, states that a completely new law should be adopted, instead of a merely amended one.

At a session on Wednesday, Parliament initiated the procedure for the termination of caretaker government.

Photo: MIA