With 116 votes ”in favor”, and without any “against” or “abstention”, the Parliament on Tuesday verified the mandates of all 120 new MPs.
Today’s agenda also includes election of chairperson, deputy chairperson and members of the Committee on Election and Appointment Issues, and election of Parliament Speaker.
These items of the agenda will be discussed when appropriate conditions will be in place, according to Xhaferi. Coming Parliament sessions will be chaired by Xhaferi until a new speaker is elected. MPs Goran Misovski and Florijan Besimi will replace him if he is absent.
The constitutive session of the new Parliament took place in the Big Dome hall in line with health protocols for protection against the spread of COVID-19.
23-year-old student Artina Qazimi from Gostivar Dobri Dol, candidate of the Alliance for Albanians and Alternativa is the youngest Member of Parliament in the new Parliament, and one of the 43 women who won seats in the parliamentary elections. Although the parties announced a gender-equal legislature, this composition has two women less than the previous composition and has 36 percent female MPs. That 36 percent is on the verge of the legal limit, according to which there must be one third of women on the candidate lists.
As for the age of the MPs, as many as 16 of the new MPs are aged between 23 and 35. Aside from Qazimi, the youngest are Bojan Stojanoski (28) from VMRO-DPMNE and the Coalition, Monika Zajkova (29) from the “We can” coalition, led by SDSM, and Jovan Jauleski (29) from VMRO-DPMNE and the Coalition.
The oldest MPs are 72-year-old Stojan Milanov (VMRO-DPMNE and the Coalition) and Ilija Nikolovski (Coalition “We can” led by SDSM).
