SKOPJE – The “Pržino government” model has been abolished by the ruling majority in North Macedonia despite the lack of support from opposition parties. This means that a transitional government will no longer be formed 100 days before elections are held, Telma reports.
With 70 voters in favour, 11 against and no abstentions, Macedonian Sobranie adopted amendments to the law proposed by ruling VMRO-DPMNE. The amendments will not apply to the next elections, but to the second consecutive parliamentary elections after their adoption.
“With this move, Hristian Mickoski and VMRO have removed the final safeguard preventing full control over the electoral process. North Macedonia has capitulated to crime and corruption. The last opportunity to defend democratic standards and at least minimally fair election conditions has fallen”, stated opposition SDSM.
The decision was preceded by a heated debate in the Sobranie.
Former Interior Minister from SDSM Oliver Spasovski said that the “Pržino government” had originally been established with the consent of all political parties and should therefore be abolished in the same manner.
For the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), abolishing the Pržino government touches on interethnic relations. Meanwhile, the Albanian Vlen coalition argued that there is no political crisis, making its abolition necessary.
The Social Democrats remained convinced that society is not mature enough to abandon the model, while the parliamentary majority defended the legal amendments proposed by the Government.
“Such a unilateral abolition of a transitional government, without respecting the principles and guidelines under which it was originally adopted, cannot at any moment be presented as some kind of reform or progress of the social system,” said Oliver Spasovski, coordinator of the SDSM parliamentary group.
“The Council of Europe says we are a mature democracy. The Council of Europe says we are capable and have institutions able to manage these processes. Instead of being more creative as an opposition and coming up with other topics, you are here talking about the destruction of institutions,” responded Ljupcho Prendzhov, an MP from VMRO-DPMNE.
The “Pržino government” model was established in 2015 as part of the EU-brokered Pržino Agreement, reached between North Macedonia’s main political parties in an attempt to resolve a deep political crisis triggered by a wiretapping scandal involving the then-government of Nikola Gruevski.
The agreement introduced the formation of a temporary government 100 days before elections, with opposition representatives taking over key ministries in order to ensure fair electoral conditions and restore trust in the democratic process. Since then, the model was applied for the 2016, 2020 and 2024 parliamentary election.
