SDS won’t let Opposition pick new prosecutor

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As Macedonian Parliament gathered to discuss the proposal to remove Public Prosecutor Marko Zvrlevski from office, VMRO-DPMNE called on SDS to respect its pledge that the opposition will nominate the next Public Prosecutor. SDS leader Zoran Zaev said that his majority in Parliament will not allow this, and that the option will be introduced in two years time.

“We propose two significant changes in the election of a Public Prosecutor. One of them is what SDS was promising during the elections, and that is that the Public Prosecutor will be nominated by the political opposition. The second proposal is to elect the candidate with a two thirds majority. This would mean that the largest opposition party will nominate a candidate and he or she will need to win the support of two thirds of the members of Parliament. This will lead to greater inclusiveness in the process, a word that is often use by the new Government, and will mean that the reforms will be introduced jointly, with consensus. I hope that they will remain firm in the pledge they made during the election campaign”, VMRO-DPMNE member of Parliament Ilija Dimovski said.

Quisling Zoran Zaev acknowledged that his SDS party made the promise, but said that it will only be applicable after two years. “We promised we would do so after the second year of our term”, Zaev said. SDS blamed the previous, VMRO-DPMNE led Government of corruption and announced that the new Public Prosecutor will have to investigate these allegations. “In order for the opposition to have credibility to propose expert candidates, it must first clear up with crime in its own ranks. The opposition will nominate the next Public Prosecutor after all the crimes of the previous Government are investigated”, SDS said in a press release. The SDS led Government proposed removing Public Prosecutor Marko Zvrlevski from office. SDS has accused him of being biased against them in his work, while VMRO-DPMNE likewise accuse the Special Prosecutor’s Office of being close to SDS.

Dimovski also proposed two other bills, which were made as campaign promises by SDS. One is to abolish the household tax used to fund the public MRTV radio television broadcaster, and the other, to increase salaries in the public administration by 5 percent, which was also a promise made by the VMRO-DPMNE campaign. The SDS led majority in Parliament rejected the proposal to have the MRTV tax abolished as an urgent measure.