Politics of North Macedonia


Politics in North Macedonia occur within the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Political system

The political system of North Macedonia consists of three branches: Legislative, Executive and Judicial. The Constitution is the highest law of the country. The political institutions are constituted by the will of its citizens by secret ballot at direct and general elections. Its political system of parliamentary democracy was established with the Constitution of 1991, which stipulates the basic principles of democracy and guarantees democratic civil freedom. The Elections for Representatives in the Assembly of North Macedonia is held in October. The Assembly is composed of 123 Representatives, who are elected for a period of four years. Out of this number, 120 are elected proportionally in 6 constituencies of 20 each, and 3 according to the majority principle, specifically for the diaspora . There are approximately 1.5 million voters registered in the General Electoral Roll for the election of Representatives in the Assembly of North Macedonia in 2.973 polling stations. The voting for the representatives is conducted according to the list system.

Presidents

The President

The power of the President is fairly limited with all other executive power being vested in what the Constitution describes as the Government, i.e., the Prime Minister and Ministers.
Ministers:
The current cabinet is a coalition of SDSM, the Democratic Union for Integration, the New Social Democratic Party, Liberal Democratic Party, Alliance for Albanians, Party for the Full Emancipation of the Roma of Macedonia, and the Party for the Movement of Turks in Macedonia.
The members of the Cabinet of North Macedonia are chosen by the Prime Minister and approved by the national Parliament, however certain cabinet level positions are chosen by both President and Prime Minister, and approved by the Parliament.
MemberPortfolioLogo
Zoran ZaevPrime Minister
Nina AngelovskaMinister of Finance
Hasbi LikaDeputy Prime Minister in charge of Framework Agreement Implementation
Koco AngjusevDeputy Prime Minister in charge of Economic Affairs
Bujar OsmaniDeputy Prime Minister in charge of European Integration
Nikola DimitrovMinister of Foreign Affairs
Radmila SekerinskaDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense
Oliver SpasovskiMinister of Internal Affairs
Renata DeskoskaMinister of Justice
Goran SugareskiMinister of Transport and Communication
Kreshnik BekteshiMinister of Economy
Trajan DimkovskiMinister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Supply
Venko FilipceMinister of Health
Arbr AdemiMinister of Education and Science
Damjan MancevskiMinister of Information Society and Administration
Goran MilevskiMinister of Local Self-Government
Hysni IsmailiMinister of Culture
Mila CarovskaMinister of Labor and Social Policy
Naser NurediniMinister of Environment and Physical Planning
Elvin HasanMinister without Portfolio for Attracting foreign investment
Bardul DautiMinister without Portfolio
Zoran SapuricMinister without Portfolio to improve investment climate for domestic enterprises
Zorica ApostolskaMinister without Portfolio
Anita Angelovska-BezhoskaGovernor of the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia-
Ljupco ShvrgovskiAttorney General
Vasko GjurcinovskiChief of the General Staff of the Army of the Republic of North Macedonia
Zoran JolevskiSpecial Envoy and Chief Negotiator of the Macedonia name dispute

Legislative branch

The Assembly has 120 members, elected for a four-year term, by proportional representation.
There are between 120 and 140 seats, currently there are 120; members are directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by closed list proportional representation vote. There is a possibility of three people being directly elected in diaspora constituencies by a simple majority vote provided there is sufficient voter turnout.
The last election to be held was on 11 December 2016, with a second round held in one polling station on 25 December 2016. The next election is to be held in 2020.
The result of this election was as follows: percent of vote by party/coalition - VMRO-DPMNE 38.1%, SDSM coalition 36.7%, BDI 7.3%, Besa Movement 4.9%, AfA 3.1%, PDSh 2.7%, other 7.2%; seats by party - VMRO-DPMNE 51, SDSM coalition 49, BDI 10, Besa Movement 5, AfA 3, PDSh 2; note - the 3 seats for diaspora went unfilled because none of the candidates won the 6,500 minimum vote threshold.
Seats by party/coalition as of May 2019 - ruling coalition 68, opposition coalition 52 ; composition - men 75, women 45, percent of women 37.5%

2016 election result

Judicial branch

Judiciary power is exercised by courts, with the court system being headed by the Judicial Supreme Court, Constitutional Court and the Republican Judicial Council. The assembly appoints the judges, of which there are 22 in the Supreme Court, and 9 in the Constitutional Court. Supreme Court judges nominated by the Judicial Council, a 7-member body of legal professionals, and appointed by the Assembly; Constitutional Court judges appointed by the Assembly for nonrenewable, 9-year terms

Administrative divisions

With the passage of a new law and elections held in 2005, local government functions are divided between 78 municipalities (општини, opštini; singular: општина, opština. The capital, Skopje, is governed as a group of ten municipalities collectively referred to as "the City of Skopje". Municipalities in North Macedonia are units of local self-government. Neighbouring municipalities may establish cooperative arrangements.

Ethnic diversity

The country's main political divergence is between the largely ethnically-based political parties representing the country's Macedonian majority and Albanian minority. The issue of the power balance between the two communities led to a brief war in 2001, following which a power-sharing agreement was reached. In August 2004, the Republic's parliament passed legislation redrawing local boundaries and giving greater local autonomy to ethnic Albanians in areas where they predominate.

Foreign relations

North Macedonia is member of the ACCT,
BIS,
CE,
CEI,
EAPC,
EBRD,
ECE,
FAO,
IAEA,
IBRD,
ICAO,
ICCt,
ICRM,
IDA,
IFAD,
IFC,
IFRCS,
ILO,
IMF,
IMO,
Interpol,
IOC,
IOM,
ISO,
ITU,
NATO,
OPCW,
OSCE,
PCA,
PFP,
UN,
UNCTAD,
UNESCO,
UNIDO,
UPU,
WCL,
WCO,
WHO,
WIPO,
WMO,
WToO,
WTrO
Most notable relations with other countries include: Greece, China the US and Kosovo amongst others.

Greece

North Macedonia and Greece have excellent economic and business relations, with Greece being the largest investor in the country. Until the Prespa Agreement, the indeterminate status of North Macedonia's former name arose from a long-running dispute with Greece. The main points of the dispute were:
The flag: the use of Vergina Sun, a Greek state symbol, on the initial national flag used between 1992 and 1995
Constitutional issues: certain articles of the constitution that were seen as claims on Greek territory.
The naming issue was "parked" in a compromise agreed at the United Nations in 1993. However, Greece refused to grant diplomatic recognition to the Republic and imposed an economic blockade that lasted until the flag and constitutional issues were resolved in 1995. The naming issue was resolved with the Prespa Agreement, signed in 2018, and entered into force in February 2019.

USA

The United States and North Macedonia enjoy excellent bilateral relations. The United States formally recognised North Macedonia on 8 February 1994, and the two countries established full diplomatic relations on 13 September 1995. The U.S. Liaison Office was upgraded to an embassy in February 1996, and the first U.S. Ambassador to Skopje arrived in July 1996. The development of political relations between the United States and North Macedonia has ushered in a whole host of other contacts between the two states. In 2004, the United States recognised the country under its constitutional name of that time – Republic of Macedonia.

China

On 12 October 1993, the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia and the Government of the People's Republic of China established diplomatic relations with North Macedonia expressly declaring that the Government of the PRC is the sole legal government of China, and Taiwan as an inalienable part of the Chinese territory. The Government of North Macedonia affirmed it would not establish any form of official relations with Taiwan.