Heads of Mission of EU, NATO, OSCE and United States in Skopje issue joint statement

Following their meeting with Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski on 13 May, the Missions of the EU, NATO, OSCE and U.S. issued the following statement:

“We, the Head of Delegation of the European Union and Heads of Mission of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the United States of America met on 13 May with Prime Minister Gruevski to discuss the parliamentary elections scheduled for 5 June 2011, as we also reach out to other political leaders.

We urge all responsible political stakeholders to do their utmost to ensure that elections are in line with established international democratic standards, free from intimidation and violence. We also embrace the Code of Conduct for Free and Fair Elections signed by the political parties on 12 May, and all other commitments to this end.

We urge the government and other relevant institutions to ensure that the electoral process has the confidence of all political parties and above all the citizens, who we encourage to exercise their democratic rights on Election Day.

We fully support the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Election Observation Mission.”