Roundup: Macedonian MPs vote for dissolution of parliament

Macedonian Parliament adopted the decision on Monday to dissolve, opening the road to premature elections on December 11.

The decision was approved by 110 members of parliament (MPs).

"A total of 110 MPs voted. All of them voted in favor, no one was against or withheld from voting," Parliamentary Speaker Trajko Veljanoski stated.

The adoption of the decision was welcomed with applause from parliamentarians as most of them view the forthcoming elections as a way to end the deep political crisis in the country.

"The coming 50 days will be as crucial as ever before for Macedonia to decide whether it will continue on the road that means stability," ruling VMRO-DPMNE party MP Ilija Dimovski said.

Contrary to this view, the opposition eyes the Dec. 11 elections as a chance to overthrow the government.

"The moment has arrived to terminate the crime and the corruption in the government led by VMRO-DPMNE and DUI. The moment has arrived to end the theft and the misuse of the budgetary funds. The moment has arrived to end the breach of human rights by this government," Renata Deskoska from the biggest opposition party SDSM said.

"The political agreement among the four major parties has made Macedonia a country without a real choice," said non-allied MP Solza Grceva, adding that the main parties were simply thirsty for power, something she expected would not change after the elections.

One of the last decisions approved by the parliament before the dissolution was the adoption of the 2017 state budget, which projected 3.3 billion euros (3.63 billion U.S. dollars) of expenditures and an economic growth of 3.0 percent of gross domestic product for the coming year.

The deep political crisis leading to the elections in Macedonia was initiated by a scandal with the alleged secretly recorded wiretapped phone communication between government officials. The scandal was published by the opposition who claimed the conversations uncovered corruption by the ruling coalition. Since the publication of the scandal, the elections have been announced and postponed several times.

The official campaign is to start on Nov. 21 and will end on midnight on Dec. 9. The international observers have already expressed their interest in observing this important election cycle in Macedonia. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) office for democratic institutions and human rights will send 24 long-term and 300 short-term observers. Endit