Rilkovski: The government cannot escape the "Przino Agreement"

CIVIL- Center for Freedom continues with the practice of being an open platform for views and analyses in regards to the socio-political processes in the electorate context.

CIVIL Media conducted a mini series of interviews with leading intellectuals, public figures in the social sphere and experts and analysts, from which a number of interesting and significant perspectives and analyses were received. They were all asked the same questions relating to the development of the negotiations for overcoming the political crisis, the obstructions and violations of the Przino Agreement, and the opportunities for creating the right conditions for free elections in April 2016.

These discussions are part of the activities of the Project “Free elections for free citizens”, supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Nikola Rilkovski with whom we spoke as with a president of the State Election Commission in departure of office, expressed concern that the prolongation of the agreed in Przino will have negative implications, and that, as things are going, the resignation of the prime minister and the establishment of a new government will also be problematized.

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CIVIL Media: How do you assess the political process in Macedonia in the context of the implementation of the agreement Przino?

RILKOVSKI: The process of implementing the agreement from Przino is going through a complex procedure in this phase, in the sense that everything that has been agreed in Przino is being prolonged. The prolongation of what was agreed, for the most part, according to my observations, is done by the ruling party, that is, the government, as many of the things that were agreed does not suit them. But, there is no escaping that, given that they are signatories to the agreement. This delay will certainly have consequences in the efficiency of the preparation of all the institutions involved in the electoral process. The prolongation will have negative implications, because passing the deadline presents a risk, as April 24, the day of the scheduled election is fixed. This space is greatly reduced and I fear that many things might not get finished or get hastily finished.

CIVIL Media: What are the most serious violations of the Przino Agreement?

Nikola Rilkovski

RILKOVSKI: I cannot single out a major or minor violation, but what is most striking in this entire situation is that except for the opposition entering Parliament, which occurred without any problem, as it was agreed, almost all the other agreed deadlines have been passed. The anticipated points of the agreement that have been completed, have been done with many delays in the deadlines. From among the things that are going on now, the deadline for the new composition of SEC has passed, and it is still remains uncertain whether a new composition will be elected to the end of the year, then we have the agreement on the media …, According to how things are going, the prime minister is to resign until the beginning of January and have a new government constituted until January 15, I think that things will be problematic.

CIVIL Media: Can and how is it possible to create conditions for free elections in April 2016?

RILKOVSKI: The most important thing is how much the leading political parties want to conduct fair and democratic elections. Therefore, I would put the key on them, because of what has happened throughout our electoral processes, we can see that with either ones, it does not matter, the causes for a number of irregularities lies within the parties.  In this case as well, I think that everything depends on them, whether they will be willing to set the elections on the right tracks. Not only now, elections should always be fair and democratic, but I think now, as little will as there might be, they are pressed by the international community to have to do something. I hope that in addition to their wish, and for the positive and any drawbacks, everything will be under the supervision of the international community. There can never be efficient and a textbook example of elections, but I hope that as has happened with previous election frauds and forgeries, that at least that will not happen.

Marija Tegovska

Camera Dehran Muratov