May 18 (SeeNews) - Macedonian parliament speaker Trajko Veljanoski called on Wednesday an urgent parliamentary session, following the constitutional court's decision earlier today to suspended election-related activities ahead of the disputed June 5 polls.
The session, which started at 16:00 CET, has two items on its agenda - changes in the electoral code, which envisage the cancellation of the June 5 elections, and changes in the government, a statement posted on the parliament's website showed.
The constitutional court halted temporarily all election-related activities until it decides whether the dissolution of the parliament on April 6 was in line with the country's laws. The court said it will come out with a final ruling on the issue next week.
The court's decision was welcomed by both the EU and the U.S.
"The Constitutional Court’s ruling clears the way for Parliament to reconvene and to cancel the June 5 elections," the U.S. embassy in Macedonia said in a statement. "This in turn presents a renewed opportunity for the Parliament and the political leaders to demonstrate through actions a firm commitment to the Przino Agreement and its principles - rule of law, accountability, inclusiveness, and credible elections. This framework remains the best way to move the country out of the current crisis."
The U.S. statement was echoed by the EU.
"The Constitutional Court’s ruling clears the way for Parliament to reconvene and to cancel the 5 June elections, the conditions for which were not there. This is a renewed opportunity for the country to address a number of serious issues at the heart of the prolonged political crisis," High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini and Commissioner Johannes Hahn said in a joint statement. "Work should continue to prepare for credible elections as well as on the urgent reform priorities."
Both the EU and the U.S., which brokered the Przino agreement last summer, underlined that the move by Macedonia's president Gjorge Ivanov in mid-April to halt investigations against 56 officials suspected of being involved in а wiretapping scandal, must be also addressed, stressing that the pardons should be rescinded immediately.
Macedonia's ruling VMRO DPMNE is the only party that has registered candidates for the June 5 vote with the elections committee, whereas the main opposition party, socialist SDSM, and the two ethnic Albanian parties - Democratic Union of Integration (DUI) and the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) - are boycotting the elections.
On Tuesday, the European Commission warned that the international community could not accept as a reliable partner any government resulting from elections in which three out of four major parties are not participating.
The Przino agreement was aimed to solve the prolonged political stalemate, which started in January 2015, when SDSM leader Zoran Zaev accused the coalition government of VMRO-DPMNE and DUI of corruption, wiretapping illegally more than 20,000 people and covering-up a murder. For its part, the government charged Zaev with trying to destabilise the country.