Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski said on Wednesday that there is no possibility to re-call the Parliament that has been dismissed since last week, after the opposition SDSM party requested a session to initiate impeachment for President Gjorge Ivanov. President Ivanov decided to issue pardons to a long list of politicians, espionage officers and others persons involved in the spate of politically motivated cases in the past year and a half.
Speaker Veljanoski said that a session of Parliament can only be called in cases of war or crisis situations, and there is no possibility to call the Parliament to discuss SDSM's proposal. Parliament disbanded to pave way for the elections scheduled on 5 June.
The SDSM representatives in the outgoing Parliament held a press conference in which they denounced Ivanov for his decision. "With his general amnesty for politicians, Gjorge Ivanov became protector of criminals, he stepped on the Constitution, the laws and the dignity of the citizens, which equals a coup. He additionally dealt a death blow to the Przino agreement", said SDSM's Goran Sugarevski.
SDSM had 37 members of Parliament from their group and affiliated groups sign a petition for impeachment. They also called on the VMRO-DPMNE party to join their initiative. Both VMRO and SDSM denounced Ivanov's decision, with which he pardoned the leaders and high ranking officials of both parties.