A constitutional judge resigned - but didn't tell the Constitutional Court. Goce Naumovski said he would attend the session, then never showed and stopped answering the phone. Court president Darko Kostadinovski learned his colleague was leaving only after Naumovski called the Speaker of Parliament, Afrim Gashi, and told him about the resignation. If someone had set out to write a textbook example of institutional dysfunction, they'd struggle to invent a better one.

Naumovski was elected in February 2026. So he lasted a little over five months. Before that he was an adviser to Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, and he's the brother of Vasko Naumovski, a former deputy prime minister from VMRO-DPMNE and ambassador in Washington. The opposition criticised his appointment as politically motivated from the start - and now, five months on, that claim carries an uncomfortable weight.

With his departure, the Constitutional Court is left with seven judges instead of the nine it needs. And that's not just a number - it means the court will struggle to gather the five-judge majority required for binding rulings. Decisions on electoral disputes and on paid political advertising have already been postponed precisely because there aren't enough judges.

This is the second resignation in a short span. Before him, professor Jadranka Dabović stepped down too, after less than two years in the post. Two law professors walking away from the bench of the country's highest court in under a year - that's not coincidence, it's a pattern.

According to his filing with the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, Naumovski declared property in Kisela Voda and in Lisec, plus one vehicle. There's no official explanation for the resignation; unofficially, „professional and personal reasons“ are being mentioned. But while the judge packs his things, the institution meant to guard the constitution stays paralysed. When the highest court can't even gather a majority to decide, who protects the constitution - and from whom?