Observation of the early parliamentary elections in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (5 June 2011)
Election observation report
| Doc. 12643
| 20 June 2011
1 Introduction
1. In response to the invitation
from the State Electoral Commission of “the former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia” of 19 April 2011, the Bureau of the Parliamentary
Assembly decided to set up a 20-member ad hoc committee, charged
with observing the early parliamentary elections to be held on 5
June 2011. The Bureau also authorised a pre-election mission made
up of five members who are also members of the ad hoc committee,
one from each political group. The President of the Parliamentary
Assembly appointed me Chairperson of this ad hoc committee.
2. On 4 October 2004, a co-operation agreement was signed between
the Parliamentary Assembly and the European Commission for Democracy
through Law (“Venice Commission”). Pursuant to Article 15 of this agreement
(“When the Bureau of the Assembly decides to observe an election
in a country in which electoral legislation was previously examined
by the Venice Commission, one of the rapporteurs of the Venice Commission
on this issue may be invited to join the Assembly's election observation
mission as legal adviser”), the Bureau of the Assembly invited an
expert from the Venice Commission to join the ad hoc committee as
an adviser.
3. Based on the proposals by the political groups in the Assembly,
the ad hoc committee was composed as follows:
- Mr Jean-Charles GARDETTO, Head of delegation
- Group of the European People’s Party (EPP/CD)
- Jean-Charles GARDETTO*, Monaco
- Karin STRENZ, Germany
- Mustafa ÜNAL, Turkey
- Socialist Group (SOC)
- Lennart
AXELSSON, Sweden
- Joe BENTON, United Kingdom
- Andreas GROSS, Switzerland
- Virág KAUFER*, Hungary
- Gisela WURM, Austria
- European Democrat Group (EDG)
- Ganira PASHAYEVA, Azerbaijan
- Alliance of Democrats and Liberals for Europe (ALDE)
- Bernard MARQUET*, Monaco
- Ljubo GERMIČ, Slovenia
- Group of the Unified European Left (UEL)
- Substitute:
- Venice Commission
- Owen
MASTERS, Expert of the Venice Commission
- Secretariat
- Chemavon
CHAHBAZIAN, Deputy to the Head of Secretariat, Inter-Parliamentary
Co-operation and Election Observation Unit
- Franck DAESCHLER, Principal Administrative Assistant,
Inter-Parliamentary Co-operation and Election Observation Unit
*
pre-election mission on 17-18 May 2011
4. The ad hoc committee worked
as part of an International Election Observation Mission (IEOM), alongside
the election observation mission (EOM) of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE-PA)
and the EOM of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights (OSCE/ODIHR).
5. The ad hoc committee was in Skopje from 3 to 6 June 2011,
and held meetings with, inter alia,
the leaders of the main political parties, the Chairperson of the
State Election Commission (SEC), the Head of the EOM of the OSCE/ODIHR
and his staff, as well as representatives of civil society and the
media. The programme of the ad hoc committee’s meetings is in Appendix
1.
6. On polling day, the ad hoc committee was split into eight
teams, which observed the elections in and around Skopje and went
to Veles, Tetovo, Kumanovo, Gostivar, Strumnica and Ohrid.
7. The IEOM concluded that “the early parliamentary elections
were competitive, transparent and well administered throughout the
country, but certain aspects such as the blurring of the line between
state and party require further attention”. The press release issued
after the elections is in Appendix 2.
2 Political
background to the early parliamentary elections
8. Early parliamentary elections
have been called in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”
for the second time in a row. The Assembly’s ad hoc committee, having
listened to the views of their various interlocutors on the reasons
for the political crisis and the need to dissolve parliament and
call early elections, drew up the following chronology of events:
- On 25 November 2010, representatives
of the State Revenue Office, accompanied by the police, raided the
headquarters of the television company A1 TV and three daily newspapers, Vreme, Spic and Koha e Re, to investigate alleged
cases of tax evasion by those media. Following investigations, these companies’
bank accounts were frozen under a court order.
- The opposition stated that these investigations were politically
motivated because the same media had apparently in the recent past
not been prosecuted for tax evasion because they had praised the government.
- In December 2010, the main opposition party, the Social
Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), organised a major demonstration
in Skopje calling for an end to the action against those media and
for the release of the people arrested in connection with the investigations,
including Velijia Ramkovski, a rich businessman and owner of the
television channel A1 TV.
- For the opposition, it was a case that involved freedom
of expression, while for the authorities it was a criminal matter.
- On 28 January 2011, the SDSM decided to leave the parliament,
boycott its proceedings and call for early elections. The other
opposition parties followed suit, including the Democratic Party
of Albanians (DPA), which had been boycotting the parliament since
2009.
- Negotiations between the parties of the VMRO-DPNME coalition
government and the opposition led by the SDSM on the possibility
of the latter returning to the parliament failed and on 15 April
2011 the parliament voted to dissolve itself and called early elections
for 5 June 2011.
9. In the meantime – and in spite of the opposition’s boycott
of the parliament – the government coalition had passed amendments
to the Electoral Code on 5 April 2011, with the aim of implementing
the recommendations of the Venice Commission and the ODIHR contained
in the last reports on the observation of the presidential and local
elections of 22 March and 5 April 2009. Given the very short time
available, the Venice Commission was unable to adopt its opinion
on the recent amendments to the Electoral Code. However, according
to the ODIHR representatives in Skopje, the amended Electoral Code
meets most of the recommendations and, if correctly implemented,
will guarantee a sound legal basis for the holding of democratic
elections.
10. The opinions of the political parties on the causes of the
dissolution of the parliament and the organisation of early elections
were diametrically opposed to one another. As far as the leaders
of the government coalition parties were concerned, the opposition’s
blocking of the parliament’s proceedings had paralysed its legislative
work, thus preventing the adoption of important reforms to solve
urgent social-economic problems, including in the context of Euro-Atlantic
integration, and this situation was generally harmful to the country’s
international image.
11. According to the leaders of the opposition parties, the government
majority voted for the dissolution of the parliament to avoid a
likely electoral defeat in 2012 given its loss of public popularity
owing to the crisis surrounding the television channel A1 TV and
the media in general. Moreover, some interlocutors emphasised that
the main concerns of the country’s citizens, irrespective of their
ethnic origin, were the ineffectiveness of the fight against corruption
and organised crime, the economic situation and unemployment.
3 Legal framework
12. The legal framework for the
elections is provided by the Electoral Code, which came into force
in 2006 and was amended in 2008 and on 5 April 2011. The recent
amendments were adopted by the parliament by a small majority, in
the opposition’s absence, and only 68 out of the 120 members of
parliament took part in the vote. The Electoral Code was thus amended
two months before polling day, contrary to the spirit of Article
65 of the Venice Commission’s Code of Good Practice in Electoral
Matters concerning the stability of the electoral law (II.2.b, paragraph 65).
13. For the early parliamentary elections of 5 June 2011, 123
seats were to be filled, including 120 by a system of constituency-based
proportional representation (six constituencies with 20 seats each).
For the first time, three other members of parliament were to be
elected by citizens living abroad using the first-past-the-post
system: one for the American continent, one for Europe and Africa,
and one for Asia and Australia.
14. According to the country’s authorities, the preparations to
amend the Electoral Code and the various consultations were a long
process that they had begun a year earlier. The amendments adopted
had reduced the period for preparing the election campaign, thus
leaving the SEC little time to organise the voting outside the country
or organise training to familiarise polling station staff with the
amended texts.
15. During a visit to Skopje on 17-18 May 2011, the pre-election
mission pointed out that it was not enough only to amend the electoral
legislation. The amendments to the electoral legislation should
be supported by the firm intention of the principal political players
to implement it and, consequently, create a climate of confidence in
the entire electoral process. Nonetheless, according to the mission,
the amended Electoral Code, if properly implemented, could guarantee
a sound legal framework for holding democratic elections.
4 Election administration
16. The country has a three-tier
election administration headed by the SEC, with 84 Municipal Election Commissions
(MECs) and an Election Board for each of the 2 976 polling stations.
For the first time, 36 polling stations were opened outside the
country in diplomatic and consular missions.
17. The members of the SEC are appointed by the parliament. The
chair and two members are provided by the opposition and the vice-chair
and three other members of the majority. The SEC’s former chair
resigned on 23 February 2011 and, on the proposal of the opposition
SDSM party, a new chair was appointed by the parliament on 12 April
2011. The Assembly’s ad hoc committee welcomed the fact that the
SEC had been able to function during the election campaign without
interruption despite the recent change of chair.
18. Certain opposition representatives told the ad hoc committee
about the politicisation of the SEC’s decisions. The committee warned
against the danger of politicising the SEC’s work and underlined
the importance of impartiality and a non-partisan approach to that
work. The SEC generally worked in a transparent and efficient manner
and succeeded in meeting nearly all the deadlines.
19. The members of the MECs were chosen from among state officials
working at various levels of public administration. The composition
of the Election Boards is mixed (politicians and professionals).
One member is appointed by the opposition parties and one by the
majority, and three others are chosen from among the state officials.
This mixed composition of the Election Boards has also helped to
increase confidence in the operation of the electoral administration.
20. Ten days before polling day, the SEC ran a campaign in the
national media that focused on voter mobilisation, explained voting
procedures and warned against election fraud.
5 Electoral rolls
and candidate registration
21. In May 2010, responsibility
for drawing up the electoral rolls was transferred from the Ministry
of Justice to the SEC, which has to update the voter lists on the
basis of the information provided by the local authorities and in
close co-operation with the Ministries of Justice and the Interior.
The aim of this amendment to the Electoral Code is to strengthen
the independence of the electoral administration.
22. The ad hoc committee is of the opinion that the system for
drawing up the electoral rolls is particularly complicated. The
Assembly’s pre-election mission did not receive any clear and convincing
explanations concerning the very small difference between the number
of inhabitants of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (approximately
2.1 million
Note) and the
number of voters registered on the electoral rolls for the early parliamentary
elections (1 821 122). About 80 000 voters registered on the electoral
rolls with an asterisk against their name live abroad and are entitled
to vote there. Of this number, only 7 258 are registered on the electoral
rolls outside the country to elect the three diaspora MPs: 4 653
voters in Europe and Africa, 1 832 in America and 773 in Asia and
Australia.
23. The ad hoc committee expressed its concern about the accuracy
of the electoral rolls, which in general terms remains a recurrent
problem that has been identified since 1994 for all the elections
observed in the country by the Parliamentary Assembly. On its pre-election
mission to Skopje on 17-18 May 2011, the pre-election delegation
was informed about the town of Kičevo, where, according to the opposition,
about 50% of the population live outside the country and are still
on the electoral rolls and where the turnout could exceed 95%.
24. While acknowledging the work done by the country’s authorities
to improve the quality of the electoral rolls, the ad hoc committee
urged the SEC, the Ministry of Justice and the other authorities
concerned to continue their efforts to improve the situation and
take all appropriate steps to guarantee the accuracy of the electoral
rolls, which is key to strengthening voter confidence in the entire
election process.
25. The electorate was invited to consult and rectify the electoral
rolls between 25 April and 4 May. Despite the awareness campaign
accompanying this initiative, only 1 094 changes were made to the
list.
26. For the early parliamentary elections of 5 June 2011, 16 political
parties and two broad coalitions were registered by the SEC. The
governing party VMRO-DPNME (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation-Democratic
Party for Macedonian National Unity) formed a 22-party coalition
and the opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) a
15-party coalition. The two coalitions also included representatives of
ethnic parties. The two main Albanian parties, the Democratic Union
for Integration (DUI) and the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA)
participated separately in the elections.
27. The Electoral Code provides that there must be one woman for
every three names on the lists of candidates, and the political
parties complied with this rule: of the 1 679 candidates, 566 were
women, which represents a total of 33.7%.
6 The election
campaign and the media environment
28. The election campaign began
on 16 May. A pre-election delegation travelled to Skopje on 17 and
18 May 2011 to assess the state of the preparations and the political
climate in the run-up to polling day. During its visit to Skopje,
the pre-election mission met the President of the Republic, the
Prime Minister, in his capacity as head of the VMRO-DPMNE coalition
government, the Speaker of the Parliament, the Minister of the Interior, the
Minister of Justice, the leaders of the main political parties competing
in the elections, the Chair of the SEC, the President of the Broadcasting
Council, the delegation of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”
to the Parliamentary Assembly and representatives of the international
community, civil society and the media.
29. At the end of its visit, the pre-election mission stated:
“The delegation was informed about concerns on possible violence,
cases of intimidation, especially in public administration, misuse
of administrative resources and the need to ensure normal conditions
for the free expression of the will of citizens. The delegation
has been assured by the authorities of ‘the former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia’ that all measures will be taken to avoid election-related
irregularities”.
30. The issues of the political crisis, the dissolution of the
parliament and the organisation of early elections were the focus
of debate in the election campaign. The beginning of the campaign
was peaceful, and the political parties did not compete against
one another on the basis of ethnic affiliation, which has often
been the case in the past. The start of the campaign was tenser
between the Macedonian parties, with mutual accusations between
the governmental coalition and the opposition that turned into tensions
within the Macedonian electorate as polling day approached.
31. The parties, with some rare exceptions, mainly competed for
votes in their own ethnic communities, which did not contribute
to the creation of a society of citizens of different ethnic backgrounds.
The community voting statistics highlight moreover the division
along ethnic lines.
32. On 12 May 2011, on the initiative of the non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and the international community present in
Skopje, 36 political parties participating in the elections signed
a Code of Conduct for Free and Fair Elections. On 13 May 2011, a
joint statement on the early parliamentary elections was adopted by
the heads of the European Union, OSCE and NATO missions and by the
United States Embassy. The statement urged “all responsible political
stakeholders to do their utmost to ensure that elections are in
line with established international democratic standards”.
33. The members of the ad hoc committee were informed by some
candidates, NGOs and media representatives about cases of intimidation
and pressure exerted by the authorities, as well as threats that public
employees, especially at the local level, who supported the opposition
would lose their jobs. According to this information, the authorities
even demanded that heads of various administrative departments present lists
of 15-20 public officials who should vote for the government coalition.
This problem is becoming more serious as, according to various estimates,
over 30% of the workforce are unemployed and more than 100 000 people
work in the country’s public administration.
34. Given the scale of the problem and the concerns expressed
by the NGOs and the media, the Prime Minister sent an open letter
to the public administration on 19 May 2011, calling on officials
to guarantee the freedom of the elections. The letter also referred
to the “unfounded attacks by the political opponents” of the government.
According to the ODIHR’s long-term observers, the campaign was not
devoid of cases of intimidation and the use of administrative resources,
especially in rural areas.
35. During the campaign, the media broadcast a wide range of political
opinions, thus enabling voters to make an informed assessment of
the positions of the political parties. In “the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia”, there are more than 150 television channels
and radio stations, including three public television channels and
three public radio stations, as well as 10 daily newspapers, seven
in Macedonian and three in Albanian.
36. The Broadcasting Council monitored compliance with the law
by the electronic media. It also drew up guidelines on the fairness
of the media coverage of the election campaign. The Broadcasting
Council revealed that a large number of media had failed to respect
the principle of balanced media coverage. For example, according
to the ODIHR media monitoring report for the period 16 May – 1 June
2011, 54% of the current affairs programmes of the public television
channel MTV-1 devoted to the government’s activities were positive
and 45% were neutral. For the same period, 22% of the MTV-1 coverage
of the government coalition VMRO-DPMNE was positive, 68% neutral
and 10% negative. In the case of the MTV-1 coverage of the campaign
of the opposition coalition SDSM for the same period, 64% of the
information was negative, 33% neutral and 3% positive. The press
covered a very wide range of opinions.
37. As regards the media coverage of the election campaign, the
ad hoc committee was informed by various interlocutors about the
phenomenon of a strong interconnection between politics and financial
flows and, more generally, the importance of money in the election
campaign. In this connection, the recent GRECO report on “the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, published in March 2010, identified
problems in applying the election campaign funding rules and a lack
of transparency in this area.
38. The country’s citizens are entitled to be informed honestly
and objectively about ideas and programmes of the political parties
concerned before giving their vote. Public television debates going
beyond ethnic lines should have been organised. While welcoming
the diversity of opinion and the freedom of the media, the ad hoc
committee considers that the journalistic environment should be
more dispassionate, tolerant and neutral and that the media should
avoid becoming a means of propaganda serving the interests of the
business world, the political parties or the government.
7 Polling day
39. Polling day was calm, and the
members of the ad hoc committee noted that the atmosphere in the
polling stations was peaceful. The following problems were observed:
- Cases of family voting. According
to the ODIHR figures, this problem was noticed in 15% of polling stations,
but the members of the ad hoc committee think it is hard to distinguish
between family voting and helping illiterate people, most of whom
are women in Albanian-speaking localities;
- There were also long queues at some polling stations;
- A large number of polling stations were small, which could
cast doubt on compliance with the principle of secret ballots;
- Polling stations were not fitted out for voting by people
with reduced mobility;
- There were cases of the use of mobile telephones in the
polling stations, which is forbidden by the Electoral Code;
- There were cases in polling stations in rural localities
where the staff failed to comply with the voting procedure. More
training for these staff, especially in rural areas, would have
been very useful.
40. The members of the ad hoc committee were pleased to note that
the presiding officers in 47% of the polling stations were women
and that women were also in the majority on the Election Boards.
They regarded as positive signs the presence of observers from various
political parties and domestic observers in virtually all the polling
stations visited.
41. According to the preliminary results from the State Electoral
Commission of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” announced
on 6 June 2011, the turnout was 63.48%. The coalitions and political parties
obtained the following number of seats: the VMRO-DPNME coalition
– 56 (including 3 seats for the diaspora); the SDSM coalition –
42; the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) – 15, the Democratic
Party of Albanians (DPA) – 8; and the National Democratic Party
(NDP) – 2.
42. On 6 June 2011, the country’s authorities arrested Mr Ljube
Boskovski, the President of the United for Macedonia Party. The
former Minister of the Interior is accused of corruption and carrying
a firearm at the time of his arrest. His party took part in the
elections and obtained 1.52% of the votes. On 6 June, a 22-year-old
man was beaten to death by police during the VMRO-DPMNE victory
celebrations, according to information disseminated by various media
and NGOs. In this connection, the ad hoc committee calls on the
country’s authorities to do everything possible to shed light on
the circumstances of this man’s death and conduct a transparent
investigation to establish the guilt of the person/persons responsible
and bring them to justice.
8 Conclusions
43. The Parliamentary Assembly's
ad hoc committee for the observation of the early parliamentary
elections in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” concluded
that “the early parliamentary elections were competitive, transparent
and well-administered throughout the country, but certain aspects
such as the blurring of the line between state and party require
further attention”. The ad hoc committee also noted that “[on] election
day, voters were able to freely express their choice in a peaceful
atmosphere, despite some irresponsible claims of irregularities
by political parties. The voting and counting process was assessed
as overwhelmingly positive, with no significant differences between
Macedonian and ethnic Albanian areas”.
44. The ad hoc committee established that, for the second time
in a row, early parliamentary elections had been called in “the
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, in order to resolve the
political crisis facing the country since January 2011. It considers
that the dissolution of the parliament and the calling of early
elections are exceptional measures that should not normally replace
the culture of a dialogue between different political forces to
find the necessary compromises.
45. As far as the Electoral Code is concerned, the ad hoc committee
regrets that the amendments to it were adopted by the parliament
by a small majority on 5 April 2011, only two months before polling
day, without obtaining the Venice Commission’s opinion, and that
the opposition parties boycotted the vote. The ad hoc committee
believes it is not enough to amend the laws in force. The amendments
to the electoral law should be supported by the firm intention of
the principal political players to create a climate of confidence
in the entire electoral process.
46. The ad hoc committee welcomes the fact that the SEC generally
worked in a transparent and efficient manner and succeeded in meeting
nearly all the deadlines. The SEC should avoid the danger of the politicisation
of its mode of operation and remain impartial.
47. The ad hoc committee thinks the system for drawing up the
electoral rolls is particularly complicated. The accuracy of the
electoral rolls remains a recurrent problem that has been identified
since 1994 for all the elections observed in the country by the
Parliamentary Assembly. It calls on the authorities to continue
their efforts in this area in order to improve the accuracy of these
lists.
48. The ad hoc committee emphasises that cases of intimidation
and the exertion of pressure continue to exist from one election
to another and that, even worse, threats are made, especially at
the local level, that public servants who support the opposition
will lose their jobs. This is extremely worrying in a country where, according
to various estimates, unemployment affects more than 30% of the
workforce.
49. On polling day, the observers noted cases of family voting
in 15% of the polling stations visited. This phenomenon is widespread
in the rural Albanian-speaking areas, and family voting actually
disguises the problem of illiterate people, most of them women whose
husbands or other male family members try to influence the way they
vote. Since it is chiefly the Albanian-speaking electorate which
votes mainly for the principal Albanian parties, which was the case
in the elections of 5 June, the ad hoc committee urges the leaders
of these political parties to give a firm undertaking to allow women
to participate freely in elections.
50. While welcoming the diversity of opinion and freedom of the
media, the ad hoc committee expresses its concern with regard to
the strong interconnection between politics and financial flows
and, more generally, the importance of money in the election campaign.
In this connection, the latest GRECO report on “the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia”, published in March 2010, identified a problem
in applying the election campaign funding rules and a lack of transparency
in this area. The ad hoc committee is convinced that the media should
avoid becoming a means of propaganda serving the interests of the
business world, the political parties or the government.
9 Recommendations
51. The ad hoc committee is of
the opinion that “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” should reinforce
its co-operation with the Assembly's Monitoring Committee in the
context of the post-monitoring dialogue in order to respond to the
following concerns associated with the elections:
- The need to strengthen the legal
mechanisms for protecting the status of public officials, especially
at the local level, in order to deal effectively with the fairly
widespread cases of pressure and threats made during election campaigns
that individuals would lose their jobs;
- The need to ensure the actual implementation of the legal
provisions relating to the funding of the political parties’ election
campaigns and the media, taking due account of the recommendations
of the GRECO report on “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”,
published in March 2010;
- The need to promote a culture of dialogue between the
different political forces, independently of ethnic lines, in a
search for compromise in order to avoid the frequent boycotts of
parliamentary proceedings.
52. The ad hoc committee calls on the authorities of “the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” to ask the Venice Commission for
an opinion on the Electoral Code, as revised on 5 April 2011, and
to request the Venice Commission’s assistance in order to strengthen
its internal legal and technical capabilities.
53. The ad hoc committee considers it necessary to prepare and
implement electoral assistance programmes, targeted at the problems
identified in this report.
Appendix 1 – Programme
Friday, 3 June 2011
09.30 – 11.00 Meeting of the Ad hoc Committee of the Parliamentary
Assembly:
- Opening of the meeting
by Mr Jean-Charles Gardetto, Head of the Delegation
- Briefing by Mr Robin Liddell, Minister Counsellor, Deputy
to the Head of the Delegation of the European Commission in Skopje
- Briefing on the pre-electoral mission by Mr Jean-Charles
Gardetto, Head of the Delegation
- Briefing by other members of the pre-electoral mission
- Recent developments in the field of election legislation,
Mr Owen Masters, Expert, Venice Commission of the Council of Europe
- Practical and logistical arrangements, Secretariat
Joint briefing for the delegations of the Parliamentary Assembly
and of the OSCE-PA
13.00 – 13.15 Opening by the heads of parliamentary delegations:
- Mr R. Battelli, Head of OSCE-PA
delegation
- Mr J-C Gardetto, Head of the Parliamentary Assembly delegation
13.15 – 13.30 Briefing by Ambassador Ralf Breth, Head of OSCE
Mission to Skopje
13.30 – 14.45 Briefing by the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation
Mission in Skopje
- Introduction
by Mr Julian Peel Yates, Head of OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission
- Polling procedures and forms: Mr S. Apostolov, Election
Analyst and Mr H. Schmeets, Statistics Analyst
- Media landscape: Mr E. Tilpunov, Media Analyst
- Wrap up: Mr D. Bisson, Deputy Head of Mission
14.45 – 15.45 Panel with NGO Representatives:
- Mr D. Deralla, President, Civil
Centre for Freedom
- Mr C. Henshaw, Senior Resident Director, NDI
- Mr D. Aleksov, Executive Director, MOST
16.00 – 17.00 Pre-deployment of some teams in the regions
Saturday, 4 June 2011
09.30 – 10.15 Electoral Administration:
- Mr B. Kondarko, President of the State Election Commission
10.15 – 11.35 Meetings with the representatives of political
parties:
- Ms G. Jankuloska and
Mr A. Milosevski, members of the Executive Board, and Mr V. Naumovski,
VMRO-DPMNE
- Mr I. Ivanovski, Deputy Chief of election campaign, and
Mr Z. Popov, International Secretary, SDSM
11.50 – 12.50 Meetings with the representatives of political
parties:
- Mr I. Bocevski, Member
of the Executive Board, LDP
- Mr I. Selmani, President, ND
12.50 – 13.50 Panel with Media Representatives:
- Mr M. Zeqiri, Editor-in-Chief,
Alsat-M
- Mr B. Georgijevski, Assistant Editor-in-Chief, Dnevik
- Ms B. Sekulovska, Editor, A1 TV
- Ms I. Gelevska, Journalist, MTV1
- Mr Z. Stefanovski, President, Broadcasting Council
13.50 – 14.00 Closing remarks
14.00 Meeting with interpreters and drivers
Sunday, 5 June 2011
All day Observation of the opening, voting, vote count and
tabulation of results
Monday, 6 June 2011
08.00 Debriefing of the ad hoc committee
14.00 Press conference
Appendix 2 – Elections were competitive,
transparent and well-administered, international observers in Skopje
say
SKOPJE, 6 June 2011 – Yesterday’s early parliamentary
elections were competitive, transparent and well-administered throughout
the country, but certain aspects such as the blurring of the line
between state and party require further attention, the international
observers concluded in Skopje today.
On election day, voters were able to freely express their
choice in a peaceful atmosphere, despite some irresponsible claims
of irregularities by political parties. The voting and counting
process was assessed as overwhelmingly positive, with no significant
differences between Macedonian and ethnic Albanian areas.
“These elections have laid a cornerstone for a stable, democratic
future,” said Roberto Battelli, Special Co-ordinator to lead the
short-term OSCE observer mission. “The reality of election day has
proven many of the pre-election allegations wrong and put the country
on track to have a climate free of paranoia that undermines voters’
faith in the electoral process.”
“The PACE delegation congratulates the citizens of this country
on expressing their will through free elections. While welcoming
the diversity of opinions and media freedom, the delegation believes
the media environment should be more dispassionate, tolerant and
neutral and that the media should avoid becoming a propaganda tool
serving the interests of the business world, the political parties
or the government,” said Jean-Charles Gardetto, Head of the delegation
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
“Citizen voters and members of electoral commissions at all
levels deserve praise for their contribution to an overall peaceful,
orderly and well managed electoral process,” said Julian Peel Yates,
Head of the long-term election observation mission of the OSCE Office
for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR).
The observers noted that fundamental freedoms were respected
and candidates were able to campaign freely. The general tenor of
the campaign was peaceful and low-key throughout the country.
Allegations of voter intimidation lacked sufficient substantiation,
but get-out-the-vote campaigns, in particular those of the governing
party, often did not adequately separate party from state activities.
The observers also noted instances of misuse of administrative resources
and assessed as credible allegations of pressure on civil servants
to support the ruling coalition.
A wide range of media provided diverse and extensive coverage
of the campaign, enabling voters to make an informed choice. However,
the majority of broadcasters followed partisan editorial policies
and lacked critical analysis. Contrary to its legal obligations,
public television significantly favoured the governing parties.
The observers highlighted the positive co-operation with the
authorities at all levels throughout the process.
