Filipche: SDSM will block the adoption of the Electoral Code, saying it risks election manipulation

At today’s press conference, SDSM leader Venko Filipche announced that the party will block the proposed Electoral Code, assessing that it contains serious provisions which, according to him, are neither democratic nor European, while creating opportunities for abuse of the electoral process.

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

He also said that SDSM withdrew from the working group for drafting the Electoral Code, linking that decision to the way the government had earlier adopted the Law on Government, without reaching consensus with the opposition and by changing the rules governing 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-like manner as 10 years ago,” Filipche said.

According to him, although SDSM had withdrawn from the working group, the government continued drafting the law and submitted a version that, he said, contains provisions that raise strong doubts about the conduct of a fair electoral process.

Filipche highlighted that one of the most controversial points in 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 process.