Ohrid Agreement Cast In Constitutional Form

94 representatives voted for the proposed changes of the constitution, including 21 ethnic Albanian representatives

by Slagana DIMISKOVA

Dnevnik, Skopje, Macedonia, November 17, 2001

Yesterday, immediately after midnight, representatives in the parliament adopted amendments to the constitution with 94 votes in favor and 13 votes against. All adopted constitutional amendments are now enacted. Out of 23 ethnic Albanian representatives in the parliament, 21 voted in favor of the proposed constitutional amendments. This fulfills the condition made by the president of the parliament, Stojan Andov, that at least two-thirds of ethnic Albanian representatives, 17 out of 23, had to vote in favor of the proposed constitutional amendments for them to be adopted. Only two representatives of the NDP [PDK], Kastriot Haxhirexha and Fadil Sulejmani did not vote in favor of the proposed constitutional amendments. They left the parliament immediately after the constitutional amendments were adopted. Representatives of the Democratic Alternative, New Democracy, VMRO-true, and Slobodan Danevski from the Liberal Party, also voted against the proposed constitutional amendments. President Boris Trajkovski, who proposed the constitutional amendments, attended the session of the parliament.

"With the adoption of constitutional amendments the parliament has completed an important task. Now we expect that the situation in the country calm down. Now we need to focus on the improvement of living conditions for the citizens. We need to take concrete steps with that in mind," president of the parliament Stojan Andov stated yesterday at a press conference. He said he expected that a donor conference would be held on December 15 and that the conference would help improve the economic stability of the country.

"Regarding the constitutional changes, we also had in mind the economic assistance promised by the international community. The international community must thereby contribute to our efforts to leave this crisis behind. State policy must now clearly be defined," Andov stated. He emphasized that he had already had talks regarding that with the EU representative Alain le Roy and the Dutch ambassador in Macedonia.

The final adoption of the amendments was preceded by the negotiations regarding the text of the amendments and then by votes for adoption of specific text of each one of the amendments. Before the final vote on the constitutional amendments the representatives of VMRO-DPMNE had a coordination meeting attended by the leader of the party Ljubco Georgievski and the Minister for Internal Affairs [Police] Ljube Boskovski. The leader urged the representatives to agree to immediately after the adoption of the agreed text of the proposed constitutional amendments the new session of the parliament with the single agenda item - final vote on the constitutional amendments - be convened.

93 representatives voted in favor of the amendment related to the preamble of the constitution, while 14 voted against. Representatives of the Democratic Alternative, VMRO-true, New Democracy and two representatives of VMRO-DPMNE, Jordan Boskov and Dimitar Batkovski, as well as Slobodan Danevski from the Liberal Party, voted against this amendment.

The text of the preamble adopted by the representatives mentions the Macedonian nation and parts of other nations that live within the borders of the Republic of Macedonia. That formulation was supported by the representatives of the international community.

88 representatives voted in favor of the amendment regarding the status of religious communities, 16 voted against and three abstained from voting. President of the Parliament Stojan Andov voted against this amendment.

Before voting on adoption of individual amendments started, Kastriot Haxhirexha from the NDP emphasized that he and his colleague from the NDP were leaving the session.

"We will not serve as decorations and are consequently leaving the session. We believe that Albanians should have the same status as Macedonians. We do not accept to be treated as a minority," Haxhirexha emphasized.

During the debate in the parliament representatives rejected numerous amendments to the amendments proposed by some representatives. Representative of the president of the republic Ljubomir Frckoski accepted only the amendment proposed by representative Stojan Andov. This amendment stipulates that the parliament makes decisions with the majority of representatives attending a particular session, unless the constitution stipulates that a specific majority is needed for adoption of certain legislation. This will set conditions for more efficient work of the parliament, since the number of representatives needed for a valid session was reduced to 41 from previously required 61.

Translated on February 12, 2002