Filipce: SDSM will block the adoption of the Electoral Code, as it says it creates conditions for election manipulation

SDSM leader Venko Filipce announced at today’s press conference that his party will block the proposed Electoral Code, arguing that it contains serious provisions which, according to him, are neither democratic nor European, while leaving room for abuse of the electoral process.

He stated that, although SDSM withdrew from the working group for drafting the Electoral Code, the government continued preparing the law and submitted a version that, according to him, raises serious doubts about the conduct of a fair electoral process.

According to Filipce, one of the most problematic points of this text is the provision for electronic voting for the diaspora, without clearly defined mechanisms for identity verification and without legal guarantees for the security of the entire process.

“This Assembly should not adopt such a law. We will block it because citizens deserve to have a fair and democratic electoral process, and not the controlled one that Hristijan Mickoski began to impose by following the example of his mentor, undoubtedly an idol, Nikola Gruevski. We will block this law in the Assembly,” said Filipce.

Filipce clarified that the reason for SDSM’s withdrawal from the working group was related to the way the government had earlier adopted the Law on Government, without reaching consensus with the opposition and by changing the rules for the functioning of the Przhino government.

“The introduction of the Przhino government a decade ago, and then again in 2018, was done by consensus, at that time with the presence and active participation of the international community, our strategic partners, the United States of America and the European Union. And now the government has changed the Law on Government in a sneaky way, in the same autocratic and regime-style manner as 10 years ago,” said Filipce.