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EU urges Macedonia's political parties to reach agreement on election reforms

Xinhua, October 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

The European Union has expressed concern that the Macedonian parties have failed to reach an agreement on election reforms.

"We call on the leaders of the four parties to reach an agreement today. The day of the elections is near. Therefore, the Electoral Code should be adopted as soon as possible and its implementation should begin in the eve of the April elections," Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for the EU's foreign policy chief, said on Thursday.

The political parties have made no progress on finalizing the election reforms, no matter the support given by the work groups, said the EU spokeswoman.

On June 2, 2015, EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn, after a day-long meeting with key political leaders in Macedonia, told reporters that "it was agreed that by the end of April next year there should be early elections."

The agreement on reforms for early elections has been seen as a necessary step in order to overcome the deep political crisis in Macedonia. Endite