North Macedonia's parliament dissolved

North Macedonia's lawmakers voted to dissolve the 120-seat parliament, paying the way for early elections set for April 12.

Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi said that according to the consultations with the State Electoral Committee, Sunday was the last date for dissolving parliament as a precondition for organizing elections for members of the Parliament in accordance with the related law.

"All decisions by the Parliament were in the interest of the citizens and the state," Xhaferi said before the vote.

The vote came after three days of work of the MPs, who discussed and voted on a few important laws.

Among the key laws were the one on public prosecution office which is part of the reforms requested by the European Union for opening accession negotiations and the law on defense which is connected with adjustment of the legislation for the country' accession to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

North Macedonia hopes that in March the European Union will give green light for opening accession negotiations. It also expects to become the 30th NATO member after Spain ratifies the accession protocol for membership.