Peaceful Second Round of Elections in Suto Orizari

05 September 2005

According to the Monitoring Mission of the Roma Lobby Group Coalition (RLG), the Second Round of the Extraordinary Local Elections for Mayor of Suto Orizari municipality was concluded peacefully, in accordance with the Law.

The voting in Suto Orizari was peaceful and democratic

According to RLG, the peaceful and democratic atmosphere was due to the greater mutual respect and tolerance of the two candidates headquarters. Also, the greater voter turnout and the transparency of the process have improved the overall picture about the legitimacy of the Elections.

RLG, however, criticized the State and Municipal election commissions for failing to take the adequate measured to complete the training of the members of the election boards, which resulted in the increased number of cases of family and proxy voting.

Kevsera Memedova from "Esma" Roma Women Association and Kjmet Amet from "Luludi" at the press conference. The two organizations were actively involved in the RLG

The monitoring mission graded the overall elections as average. The majority of election boards were graded �C�, while the understanding of the electoral processes by the voters was deemed adequate.

The Roma Lobby Group also believes that the unusually high presence of police in Suto Orizari on the ballot day has contributed to avoid violent incidents, which were characteristic of all previous elections.

The 19,908 registered voters went to the polls yesterday, to choose between the candidates of the United Emancipation Party, Erduan Iseni, and Saban Saliu from the Union of Roma in Macedonia. The initial results are expected later today.