Levica to propose abolition of paid political advertising, says Borislav Krmov

Levica's parliamentary group announced on 24 September 2026 that it will propose a set of amendments to the Electoral Code, beginning with a demand to abolish paid political advertising. The move follows the Constitutional Court's decision to dismiss Levica's earlier initiative and decline to review the contested provisions that the party says exclude it from paid advertising.

Krmov calls the court ruling politicized and vows further action

"Unfortunately, it is overshadowed by the scandalous, undemocratic and highly politicized decision of the Constitutional Court to reject Levica's initiative and not to discuss the problematic parts of the Electoral Code that exclude Levica as the only party from political advertising," said Borislav Krmov, coordinator of Levica's parliamentary group.

Krmov argued the court's reasoning — that the matter had already been decided — does not reflect current realities, noting that since 2023 Levica has been represented in parliament with a parliamentary group that remains excluded from paid political advertising.

He pointed to last local elections as a concrete example of the imbalance. "Our candidate Amar Mecinovic entered the second round in the city of Skopje. We had two candidates in the runoff, but only one candidate had paid political advertising and that is an unacceptable and absolutely illegal and unconstitutional matter," Krmov said.

Describing the planned legislative push, Krmov said: "We will have several initiatives, more amendments to the Electoral Code and we will start with the first, where we will ask for the abolition of paid political advertising. We think that this is the fairest. If not all parties can receive what is due to them, then it will be fairest that no one receives anything, and thus we will save the budget millions."

Levica also said it supports reopening a cross-party dialogue on the Electoral Code. "We are waiting to see other parties state whether they accept to reopen the dialogue on the Electoral Code. Furthermore, I also saw that the Minister of Justice, the new minister, says he wants the Ministry of Justice to open a dialogue, so we support that as well," Krmov said, while warning that political dialogue must not be used to perpetuate the alleged injustice.

On the possibility of tougher measures, Krmov warned: "In any case, everything is on the table. So, Levica does not plan to be treated in the Assembly as a second-rate party anymore. Everything is on the table if these provisions, these contentious provisions of the Electoral Code are not corrected, and even radicalization in the Assembly by the Levica political party," he said.

Photo: press material from the event