President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, in an interview with television „Kanal 5“, judged that the country is moving in a good direction and that in many areas it is more functional than it was two years ago. Then she said the other half - the half that is worth more.

„Our greatest pain was and remains corruption and crime. That is a fact. Partisanship and politicisation are still strong. Where there is partisanship and politicisation, corruption and crime thrive easily. What we need are strong institutions and weak individuals, because problems should be solved institutionally.“

Strong institutions and weak individuals. If there is one sentence that describes everything missing in this country, that is it. And it comes from the head of state, not from an opposition bench.

One electoral district

The president judged that the single-electoral-district model is a good solution, stressing that every vote should carry equal value regardless of which part of the country it comes from. „A vote should carry the same weight. It is not good for different electoral districts with different numbers of votes to produce a mandate,“ she said, acknowledging that the model is not widespread but could be applied successfully here too.

The demand for a single electoral district is a long-standing demand of the smaller parties - which by itself tells you who the current model suits.

Who disagrees with whom about voting from abroad

This is where the story splits along party lines. For VMRO-DPMNE, enabling electronic or postal voting for Macedonians living outside the country is a key condition in the talks on the new Electoral Code. SDSM points to that exact method of voting as problematic, warning of possible abuse and demanding additional expert analyses. Levica criticised SDSM for not attending the meeting meant to align positions, judging it a missed chance for the opposition to come forward with a joint proposal.

Siljanovska-Davkova recalled that under the Constitution the right to vote derives from citizenship, and judged that the current legal provisions contain inconsistencies, pointing out that most states allow their people abroad to vote.

SDSM hit back

SDSM's reaction was not slow in coming. The party accused the president of engaging selectively in the debate and of holding positions that open more questions than they offer answers.

The questions they put to her are concrete: if she advocated for a technical government that would secure fair elections, why did she sign the decree abolishing it, and why did she not propose a new model of a technical government herself?

SDSM also faulted her for her silence on the court rulings connected to former prime minister Nikola Gruevski and journalist Dragan Pavlović Latas, as well as on the return of the property known as „Bela palata“ - cases which, according to the party, call equality before the law into question.

„Instead, the president chose to speak only about the parts of the Electoral Code that suit VMRO-DPMNE. That is not concern for the diaspora, it is a selective political position that protects the regime, not the interest of citizens,“ the statement reads.

The sentence everyone skipped

In the same interview, the president also sent a message to the parliamentary parties: „All questions should be resolved in parliament, not on television and at press conferences. There should be political dialogue.“

The message was delivered in a television interview. The answer arrived via a party press release. Neither one happened in parliament.

The president also warned that delaying reforms to the Electoral Code means missing important obligations on the European agenda, which could have consequences for access to European funds. That is a concrete price with a concrete deadline - unlike the debate, which has neither.