Skopje, 30 July 2021 (MIA) – There will be changes to the text of the Electoral Code. There will be some improvements. The four larger political parties have in principle reached an agreement, and I expect that immediately after the holidays, in mid-August, this law will be passed in Parliament, Justice Minister Bojan Marichikj said Friday. “The Electoral Code is complicated to adopt and we have always passed it by consensus. The text is still being worked on at the moment. There is a proposal in Parliament, signed by several MPs, coordinators of the four largest parties, but what I can say is that it doesn’t mean that it will finally be adopted in that form. There’s still time, though not too much, but I believe it will be adopted after the holidays,” Marichikj told Kanal 5 TV. The Minister pointed out that the idea is to implement all OSCE/ODIHR recommendations in the law, which are necessary, as well as to make improvements in the process, in the interest of democratization of the elections, and greater citizen participation. Commenting on the remarks by the Levica party – why talks on this law only involve the largest political parties, and not the smaller ones, Marichikj said it was common practice so far that the Electoral Code is discussed between the four largest parties, which have their members in the State Election Commission (SEC). “This time there was a working group in the Ministry of Justice, which drafted a basic text. Then the four largest parties reviewed it and gave their remarks. They changed the text, and then the text was consulted on, for the first time, as inclusively as possible with the smaller parties in the Parliament, which don’t have a parliamentary group, including Levica as well,” said Marichikj. He noted that regarding the Electoral Code, both the OSCE and the President have expressed their views, but, he added, it’s better to wait and see in what form the law will be adopted and with what solutions, so that following procedures can be commented on. Marichikj stressed that consultations are ongoing at all times, i.e. the topic has been open for several months now. “The moment we have a legal text that will be aligned, and which we’ll consider to be better than the one currently in Parliament, it will be tabled again and it will be passed. However, in any case it’s good to have changes to the Electoral Code, primarily in terms of the OSCE recommendations, as well as some other solutions that are important for the election process before we go to the polls in October,” said Marichikj.