NGOs Came Out with Preliminary Findings on Municipal Elections

Dejan Georgievski and Elena Simonoska
Graganska asocijacija za razvoj na demokratskite institucii MOST

22 August 2005

The monitoring missions of the Roma Lobby Group and MOST civic association say that the first round of the Extraordinary Elections for Mayor of Suto Orizari municipality in Skopje proceeded in a fair and democratic manner, and no serious incidents were registered.

MOST presented the findings at a conference for the media held at the NGO InfoCentre in Skopje

According to the Roma Lobby Group (made of six Roma NGOs), which monitored the Elections with 50 monitors (19 two-member teams, team located with the Municipal Election Commission, three mobile teams and a group of analysts at the Mission�s infocentre), said that the Elections were conducted in accordance to the Law and guaranteed the full voting rights to all citizens of Suto Orizari.

MOST reports that the first round of the Extraordinary Elections was characterized by extremely low turnout of voters, passed in a peaceful atmosphere and without serious incidents, compared to previous elections in this Municipality.

MOST monitored the Elections with 38 observers, in stationary and mobile teams. MOST also monitored the work of the Municipal Electoral Commission during the collection and counting of ballots.

Automobiles decorated with candidates posters and party insignia roamed around Suto Orizari yesterday.

According to the reports submitted by MOST monitors, there were cases of violations of the balloting procedures, regarding the use of the invisible spray and UV lamp, as well as violations of the secrecy of voting in cases of providing assistance to people with impaired vision and illiterate persons. Also, in several cases, family and proxy voting was seen and reported.

The mobile teams reported of instances of organized transportation of voters to ballot stations by political parties, as well as of propaganda and promotional material near the ballot stations.

Based on its findings yesterday, MOST recommends continuous education of all participants in the electoral process, with emphasis on the election boards in terms of the procedure for opening and closing of ballot stations and vote counting.

No calls and reports of irregularities by citizens were received on the telephone hotline operated by MOST.

The Extraordinary Elections were called after the winner of the Elections in March 2005, Amdi Bajram, was sentenced to a prison terms for tax-evasion and fraudulent actions.

Of the total of 19,780 registered voters, 4,631 came out and voted yesterday, which is a turnout of 23.26%. The first unofficial results are expected later today.