ODIHR opens election observation mission in North Macedonia

SKOPJE, 12 March 2019 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) formally opened today an election observation mission for the 21 April presidential election in North Macedonia. The mission’s deployment follows an invitation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The mission is led by Corien Jonker and consists of a core team of 11 experts based in Skopje and 18 long-term observers, who will be deployed throughout the country in multinational teams of two from 20 March. In addition, ODIHR will request that OSCE participating States provide 250 short-term observers, who will arrive several days before the election.

The mission will assess the election for its compliance with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as with national legislation. Observers will closely monitor voter and candidate registration, campaign activities, the work of the election administration and relevant government bodies, election-related legislation and its implementation, and the resolution of election-related disputes. As part of the observation, the mission will also monitor the media coverage of the campaign.

In the course of its observation, the mission will meet with representatives of state authorities, political parties, civil society, the media and the international community.

On election day, observers will monitor the opening of polling stations, voting, the counting of ballots and the tabulation of results. For election day, the ODIHR election observation mission will join efforts with delegations from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The mission will publish an interim report in the course of its work. The day after the election, a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions will be issued at a press conference. ODIHR will issue a final report on the observation approximately two months after the end of the election process.

The ODIHR election observation mission and the OSCE Mission to Skopje operate separately and independently under their own mandates.

For further information, please visit page osce.org/odihr/elections/north-macedonia/413765 or contact Ivan Godarsky, Media Analyst, at +389 72 443 647 (Skopje mobile), or at ivan.godarsky@odihr.mk

or

Thomas Rymer, ODIHR Spokesperson, at +48 609 522 266 (Warsaw mobile), or at [email protected]