Will Xhaferi answer the new referendum question differently?

Talat Xhaferi, Left / Collage: SP. / Photo: SP. archive

Opinions Experts in constitutional law and lawyers have divided opinions on whether Apasiev's initiative will pass this time, although most believe that the Parliament, and not the President of the Parliament, should evaluate the constitutionality of the referendum question.

Will it pass the filter of the President of the Assembly? Talat Xhaferi the new initiative for a referendum, is the main dilemma since the leader of the Left Dimitar Apasiev disclosed the referendum question: "Are you in favor of continuing the negotiations with the European Union, by accepting the parliamentary conclusions of July 16, 2022?"

Experts in constitutional law and lawyers have divided opinions on whether the initiative will pass. Apasiev is confident that it is practically impossible for the initiative to be formally and legally rejected. SDSM maintains the position that a referendum is not necessary, while VMRO-DPMNE is yet to declare whether it will support the initiative.

Apasiev said in an interview for "Channel 5" that Hristijan Mickoski's initiative was formally and legally correct, but that the Left, unlike VMRO-DPMNE, will not directly "attack" the Agreement with Bulgaria, but the Conclusions, with the aim, as which he said, "let's not give ammunition to Talat Xhaferi to pretend to be a constitutional judge, that is, to interpret the Constitution".

"We are going for a variant in which the narrative will be "against" and not "for", that is, a narrative of continuing the spirit of the anti-government protests against Bulgarianization, which were the most massive since SDS came to power," Apasiev said.

He emphasized that they will demand a mandatory referendum, and since according to our Law on Referendum the statement is "for" and "against", he expects the citizens to vote against the issue.

"The point is that now we are going according to Article 24 of the Law on Referendum, that at the state level, a referendum can be called for decisions made by the Assembly or for citizens' statements on other issues decided by the Assembly. Those "other issues" that were decided by the Parliament are these Conclusions that we are putting to a referendum," Apasiev said.

According to him, the problem in the Conclusions is in point 1 – which introduces the Negotiating Framework ie. the three documents that were not delivered to the MPs, and point 3 D, which is the so-called French proposal.

"If you read the Conclusions, you say to yourself, everything is protected - the language is protected... However, point 1 introduces the Negotiating Framework - those are the three documents that were not given to us as MPs, so we had to ask for them to be delivered to us, and point 3-G – that is the proposal of the French presidency. Those are the disputed documents," he explained.

Iliev and Kekenovski believe that the initiative should not be rejected

The former President of the Supreme Court Dane Iliev he says for "Sloboden Pechat" that the issue is in order both from a formal and legal point of view and according to the Constitution.

"What is the pinnacle of democracy is the right to a referendum." The initiative is justified and is based on the Constitution. The referendum question has no contentious elements and should pass. I hope that the President of the Assembly, Talat Xhaferi, will now be more careful and that he will observe the procedure, that is, that he will not evaluate the constitutionality of the referendum question himself, but that he will submit the initiative to the committees and to the plenum. Otherwise, Xhaferi is liable," says Iliev.

And the constitutional law professor Jthis Kekenovski believes that the initiative of the Left should not be rejected.

"But as things have gone, I would not be surprised if they find a problem again so that the initiative does not pass, no matter how the referendum question is formulated," says Kekenovski.

The dilemma that the initiative can be rejected, according to the professor, is Article 28 paragraph 3 of the Law on Referendum, according to which "referendum at the state level cannot be called for issues on which the Parliament decides with a majority vote of the deputies present, and it must there is a majority of votes from the deputies present who belong to the communities that are not the majority in the Republic of Macedonia". But the conclusions about the French proposal that were voted by the Assembly were not subject to a double vote, that is, they were not asked to be voted on according to Badenter's principle.

According to another constitutional law expert, however, a referendum that indirectly refers to international agreements should not be approved, because if a referendum is held and it is successful, it will mean the cancellation of the agreement. According to him, the key question is whether it is permissible to go to a referendum on such issues. In any case, he says, the decision whether the initiative for a referendum is orderly and whether it is constitutional should in no case be made by the President of the Assembly, but by the parliamentary committees and the Assembly in plenary session.

VMRO-DPMNE is silent for now, although it has announced support

SDSM considers the Left's proposal to be another attempt to stop European integration in an unconstitutional way.

"This attempt will not pass and the country will continue further towards the European path, of course, with all the benefits that this process brings. The only ones who are against the EU precisely at this stage in which we are at the beginning of the negotiations and the screening process are Hristijan Mickoski and Levica. The criminal anti-European coalition is seeking salvation for its seat, seeking salvation through blockades and damage to the state. North Macedonia has started negotiations with the EU and it is our obligation as a serious state-building party to move forward," he says. Darko Kaevski, MP from SDSM.

VMRO-DPMNE say that they will comment on the Left's initiative after the party authorities take a stand. According to VMRO-DPMNE, it is good that there is talk of a referendum, however they will wait for the explanation of the Left on the referendum issue.

Although VMRO-DPMNE announced support for the referendum initiative from the Left, unofficially, it is uncertain whether the largest opposition party will stand behind the referendum question, and their dilemma lies in the duality of the question, which in the first part refers to support for EU membership, while in the second part is against the French proposal.

The Left informs that the procedure for collecting 100 signatures will begin next week, after which the signatures will be submitted to the State Election Commission for the referendum initiative to begin the parliamentary procedure.

Pendarovski: Ethnic referendums are a security problem

The referendum always becomes a problem if it is mono-ethnic, the president of the country said Stevo Pendarovski in an interview with TV Clan.

"Every time in Macedonia it's a security problem, first political destabilization, and then a security problem necessarily follows if you try to do something on a purely ethnic basis, and that's how the radicals on the other side answer you, and they can. I don't scare those who are trying to hold a referendum now, do it, however, you know the country is heterogeneous, it always was, it always will be. It is very important in their political moves, I am talking about those who are now in power, opposition, who have some kind of situation to vote for some people to support them, they must act in a balanced manner", says Pendarovski.

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