Regardless of what Mickoski says, a party statute must define the procedure for electing party’s president

In his first media appearance as the president of VMRO-DPMNE, in the interview conducted by journalists from MTV and four national terrestrial commercial televisions (except Telma), Hristijan Mickoski made not only untruthful, but a statement antithetical to the current laws governing the work of political parties. Speaking about future amendments to the party’s statute, he said:

In the statute, you do not define the election of the president. In the statute, you define party’s organizational set-up, wherein you set the party functionally…

[Source: MRT (from 28:50), date: 04 January 2018]

EXPLANATION:

Inarguably, political parties’ statutes must define the election of the president, i.e. the procedure for the election of this organ, i.e. the manner of electing this officeholder. That’s clearly stated in article 16, paragraph 1 of the Law on Political Parties, stipulating that the statute of the political party shall include provisions for: “the bodies of the political party, MANNER OF THEIR ELECTION AND REVOCATION, duration of the mandate and manner of decision-making”:

Article 16

(1) The statute of the political party shall include provisions for:

– the name and the shortened name of the political party;

– the headquarters of the political party;

– the political aims of acting, achievement of publicity in the work and manner of acting;

– the conditions and manner of becoming a member and termination of the membership and the rights, obligations and responsibilities of the members;

– the representation of the political party;

– the bodies of the political party, manner of their election and revocation, duration of the mandate and manner of decision-making;

– the acquisition and disposal with the funds;

– the dissolution of the political party;

– dealing with the assets in case of dissolution of the political party and

– the symbols of the political party (flag, symbol, emblem etc.).

Article 18 of the same law says that: “decision on election of the political party organs where the personal name of the president of the political party, i.e. of the person who shall represent…shall be stated” is the precondition for even registering the political party in the Court Register. All of this means that if VMRO-DPMNE’s new statute does not clearly define the election of the party’s president and if does not act according to previously established statutory provisions, it could not be even registered as a party.

After stating that the statute does not define the election of the president, his next assertions, in which he adds that the statute defines the organizational set-up, which is set functionally, are very illogical. Isn’t the president a part of the party’s organizational set-up? Isn’t he a part of the organizational scheme, i.e. part of the institutional organogram? And, regarding the functional set-up, in turn, isn’t “president of the party” a function, i.e. the highest individual function, taking into account that it’s a matter of the highest functionary, how can he not be a part of the functional set-up of VMRO-DPMNE?

All of this is entirely confusing, but the problems do not end here. The abovementioned quote isn’t the only untruth from the interview. Just 30 seconds before making the statement above, at 28:08, when asked about the demands for rescheduling the Congress of VMRO-DPMNE and the number of delegates, Mickoski said:

The thesis you back, saying that there have been demands for rescheduling the congress because the number of delegates in the congress should have been increased doesn’t hold water, because none of the sister parties, including the biggest one, CDU in Germany, doesn’t have so many delegates, quite the opposite, the number is much smaller.

This is incorrect as well. Not only incorrect, but completely untrue. Namely, the Congress of VMRO-DPMNE, which took place on 22 December 2017 in Valandovo, was attended by 411 of 544 invited delegates.

On the other hand, the Statute of CDU – Christian Democratic Union of Germany (page 20, chapter E, article 19 titled: “Composition of the Congress”) clearly states that CDU’s congresses are attended by 1000 delegates and explains how and when they are elected. The election is carried out in the federal German states, districts and counties, 200 delegates are elected proportionally with the success from the previous general election in each federal state, district or county, whereas the other 800 are elected according to the number of party members in each federal state, district or county. The number of members from each of them is decisive for the number of delegates, and they use the D’Hondt method for determining the number of delegates, and the lists of delegates are closed 6 months prior the congress takes place.

President of a party has personal and moral obligation to be familiar with the laws governing the work of the political parties so they can lead the party successfully and efficiently. This especially goes to the president of the biggest party in the country. But given that this is not the case, confirmed by the two statements above, we are forced to asses them as untruthful.

SOURCES:

• Law on Political Parties, http://www.pravo.org.mk/documentDetail.php?id=196 (requires registration), [Accessed on 05 January 2018]
• Statute of CDU, https://www.cdu.de/system/tdf/media/statutenbroschuere.pdf?file=1 (in German), [Accessed on 05 January 2018]
• The Congress of VMRO-DPMNE with sufficient number of delegates, http://time.mk/c/5523f4b721/kongresot-na-vmro-dpmne-so-dovolen-broj-na-delegati.html, [Accessed on 05 January 2018]

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