Presidential and parliamentary elections are announced in North Macedonia

2024-02-14 19:00:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Speaker of the Assembly of North Macedonia, Jovan Mitrevski, has set the dates for holding the presidential and parliamentary elections on Wednesday.

The presidential elections will be held in two rounds, the first on April 24, while the second round will be held together with the parliamentary elections on May 8.

Mitrevski said that he believes that in the pre-election period all competent institutions and all subjects involved in the elections "will give their contribution to have fair, free and democratic elections, as a NATO member state deserves. and a country that has chosen the path towards full membership in the EU".

"North Macedonia in the past election processes has proven that it has the capacity to organize democratic elections in accordance with European principles and values. The expression of the right to vote freely is the highest act of democracy and I believe that the citizens in these elections will make the best solution for the future of the state", said Mitreski.

The elections will be organized by the technical government, which is led by Prime Minister Talat Xhaferi, who was elected on January 28 of this year, 100 days before the elections.

It has been reported in the media that the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, will support the Albanian opposition, which consists of four political parties and some supporters of the Vetëvendosje Movement, in these elections in the neighboring country.

Speaking about this, the president of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, said that Kurti has the right to support persons and political parties in the parliamentary elections in North Macedonia.

At the end of December last year, the three Albanian parties in opposition in North Macedonia - Besa Movement, Alternativa, Democratic Movement and later the chairman of the Alliance for Albanians, Arben Taravari - announced a joint electoral list for the May 8 elections.

Bekim Qoku, from the Vetëvendosje Movement, who also has Macedonian citizenship, said that his party will join this list.

The campaign for the presidential elections is expected to start at the beginning of April and coincide for a few days with the campaign for the parliamentary elections.

During this period, the Government cannot hire, promote and invest in the economy.

Even though the time until the elections is getting closer, the parties have not yet announced the names of the candidates with whom they will appear in the presidential elections, nor the plans for coalitions in the parliamentary elections.

The Albanian opposition has warned that it will participate with its candidate in the presidential elections.

Only the "Left" party announced its candidate, professor Biljana Vankovska.

President Stevo Pendarovski said on Wednesday that within 10 days the name of the candidate of the ruling Social Democratic League will be known.

Pendarovski is one of the possible candidates for a term at the head of North Macedonia.

It is not yet known whether the SDSM candidate will also have the support of the Democratic Union for Integration (BDI), which in the previous elections had supported Stevo Pendarovsi.

Their candidacies are also being examined by the opposition VMRO DPMNE, but without specifying specific names./ REL