SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
The Mission of OSCE/ODIHR to Skopje held on Monday a press conference in which they presented the report on the 1st round of the 2019 presidential election that was held in Macedonia on Sunday. “This peaceful, generally well-run election demonstrated that the political will can be found to hold democratic elections. “I sincerely hope that following these elections real effort will be made to enact a coherent electoral law and finally address the long existing challenges,” said Sereine Mauborgne, Special Co-ordinator and leader of the short-term OSCE observer mission. “The delegation regrets that the turnout was low for a presidential election. A mature functioning of the political system and a reform of the electoral law would re-engage citizens and ensure their active participation in the election of their head of state. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Venice Commission are ready to assist the authorities of North Macedonia in implementing the reforms,” said Marie-Christine Dalloz, head of the delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The Head of the election observation mission from OSCE’s ODIHR Corien Jonker pointed out that it was the lack of uniform reporting of candidate expenditure, regulation of third-party campaigning, and reporting by political parties supporting candidates that reduced both the transparency of campaign finance and the effectiveness of oversight. The international mission for observation of the 1st round of the election counted 240 supervisors.
