Macedonia Ruling Party Blocks Laws Aiding Prosecutors

The legal changes failed to pass on Tuesday after only about 30 MPs in the 123-seat parliament, mainly from the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, voted in favour.

The proposed changes to the Law on Special Prosecution were intended to remove the prosecutors' June 2016 deadline for investigations, while changes to the Law on Witness Protection were aimed at improving the security of witnesses.

Although the bills theoretically had a chance to pass, despite the opposition from the ruling VMRO DPMNE, MPs from the junior ruling party, the Democratic Union for Integration, who previously hinted they would support them, were largely absent from the parliamentary session.

SDSM MP Petre Silegov had called on ruling party MPs to vote for the two bills, arguing that it was "in the interest of the ruling party" to allow the Special Prosecution, SJO to do its work and prove all the allegations about wrongdoing by top VMRO DPMNE officials were wrong.

In February 2015, the opposition started releasing batches of covertly recorded tapes, which it said showed that the VMRO DPMNE-led government had been behind the illegal surveillance of some 20,000 people, including ministers.

It also said the tapes proved many criminal allegations against government members, including election rigging.

The revelation of the tapes sparked a deep political crisis that is still ongoing.

VMRO DPMNE chief Nikola Gruevski, who was prime minister from 2006 until he resigned earlier this year under an EU-brokered deal aimed at ending the crisis, has said the tapes were "fabricated" by unnamed foreign intelligence services and given to the opposition to destabilise the country.

The SJO was established last year as a result of the EU-brokered...