The Macedonian Assembly started the debate on the initiative for calling early parliamentary elections. The majority rejected opposition party SDSM's request for a few points to be added to the agenda: change of the make-up of the State Election Commission and regulating of the manner in which the parties will be presented in the media during the elections.

NSDP parliamentarian Ivan Atanasovski informed before the start of the debate that he had just returned from Brussels, where he held talks with Macedonia's friends and lobbyists. He stressed that EU parliamentarian Jelko Kacin, one of Macedonia's biggest friends, received with resignation the news that Macedonia had decided to call early parliamentary elections.

The assembly session is expected to continue this afternoon, after the lunch break. It is expected that the Assembly will ratify this initiative.