The Party of Pensioners ('' mk, Партија на пензионери, Partiјa na penzioneri'') is a political party in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

. In the 2020 elections, the party won one seat as part of the

SDSM The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia ( mk, Социјалдемократски сојуз на Македонија – СДСМ, ''Socijaldemokratski Sojuz na Makedonija'' – SDSM, sq, Lidhja socialdemokrate e Maqedonisë – LSDM) is a ...

-led coalition.

History

The party was founded on 12 March 2013 as Party of United Pensioners and Citizens of Macedonia ('' mk, Партија на обединети пензионери и граѓани на Македонија'' – ''ПОПГМ'', ''Partiјa na obedineti penzioneri i gragjani na Makedoniјa'' – ''POPGM''), with Boris Stojanoski as the chair and 250 others present. It was founded after comments made by then- Finance Minister

Zoran Stavreski Zoran Stavreski (born 29 October 1964 in Ohrid) is Macedonian politician and formerly Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Finance. Education Graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje in 1987. In ...

surrounding pensions, which the party claimed meant that "pensions in the Republic of Macedonia would be the lowest in the region compared to the average paid salary in the country". For the

2016 election The following elections occurred in the year 2016. Africa Benin Republic *2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016 Cape Verde * 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016 Chad * 2016 Chadian presidential election 10 A ...

, the party formed an electoral alliance with the SDSM and 3 other parties. However, it failed to win any seats. In 2018, the party changed its name to Party of Pensioners ('' mk, Партија на пензионери, Partiјa na penzioneri''). In the We Can coalition in 2020, led again by the SDSM, the party's leader, Ilija Nikolovski, was elected.

Ideology

The main concern for the party is the rights of pensioners. The party's election programme calls for "amendments to the Law on Pension Disability Insurance" and calls pensions a "legal, inalienable and permanent personal right". It states that "

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and EU membership is the best long-term framework for guaranteeing the preservation of national interests". The programme also proposes a self-sufficient nation with regards to food, and an increased role of agriculture in the Macedonian economy. In its 2016 election manifesto, POPGM called for a number of electoral reforms, such as the reduction of MPs in the

Assembly of North Macedonia The Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia ( mk, Собрание на Република Северна Македонија, sq, Kuvendi i Republikës së Maqedonisë së Veriut), or the Sobranie ( mk, Собрание, "Assembly"), is t ...

from 123 to 90 and limiting the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

to 2 terms. In addition, it called for the complete secularisation of the government, judicial reform, and reducing

emigration Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

from North Macedonia.

References

{{Political parties in North Macedonia Pro-European political parties in North Macedonia Political parties in North Macedonia Pensioners' parties Politics of North Macedonia