VOTERS LIST MAINTENANCE IN
MACEDONIA
LEGAL ASPECTS/REGULATIONS
• Voters List registration is passive.
• The Voters List is maintained by the State Election
Commission (SEC).
• All citizens who are 18 years old, who have
residence in Macedonia and who have a valid
personal ID card or passport are registered in the
Voters List.
• All citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, who are
temporarily employed or residing abroad, with a
residence in Macedonia and with a valid passport,
are also registered in the Voters List.
• The VL is updated 4 times a year.
REALITY / PRACTICE
• In reality, the SEC only serves as the gathering place for the data supplied by other bodies and it does not have the authority to challenge these data.
• The main body responsible for supplying data for the voters list is the Ministry of Interior (MoI), which on the other hand receives these data from the Directorate for Keeping Personal Records.
• The data are then sent to the State Statistical Office which processes and issues them in a computer-friendly format. The SEC should have been responsible for the final processing of the data, however, this is still done by the SSO because the SEC does not have capacity for this operation.
State Statistical office (SSO)
State Election Commission
(SEC)
Ministry of interior (MoI) – Directorate for keeping personal records (DKPR)
MOST’S ROLE IN THE MAINTENANCE OF THE VOTERS
LIST
• MOST has been part of the process of electoral reform since 2004.
• In 2006, all the laws regarding different types of elections and election issues were unified in a single Election Code.
• In 2006, MOST, through a Memorandum of Cooperation signed with the Ministry of Justice (the then-competent body for the maintenance of the voters list) established a web site on which the citizens can check their data in the voters list.
• www.izbirackispisok.gov.mk
• By this, Macedonia has become the first country in the region which provided internet access to citizens’ data in the voters list.
• After the project had finished, the Ministry of Justice took over the web site and now it is managed by the SEC, since in 2009 the SEC took over the competence for the maintenance of the Voters List.
• The web site has proven its worth before the
early elections in 2011 when a certain number of
minors have checked their data on the web site
and found that they were registered in the Voters
List.
• This occurred because the SEC had registered all
the citizens that would have turned 18 years of
age in 2012, when the regular elections were
scheduled to take place.
• After the public reaction these persons were
deleted from the Voters List.
• Since 2004 MOST has been part of the working
groups which dealt with the accuracy of the voters
list.
• However, it must be noted that MOST did not
and does not have access to the voters list due to
the legal regulations. This means that MOST
cannot comment on the actual accuracy of the
voters list, even though it is part of the working
groups dealing with it.
• In 2012, following soft pressures from MOST and
other stakeholders a process of examination of the
voters list was initiated resulting in creation of a
working group facilitated by the SEC.
• The process of updating the voters list, i.e. deleting of
the surplus of voters was done by registering only
those citizens holding valid biometric personal
documents. This seemed as the most effective measure
at that time.
• However, the elections in 2013 pointed to a problem
on another level: the issuance of the IDs. Namely,
people from Albania (neighboring country with
Macedonian diaspora) have voted in Macedonia and
they had valid IDs with an address in Macedonia. Also,
there were cases of more than 100 voters registered
on the same address.
• This has showed that the problem is actually in the
Law on registering residence which is the basis for
issuing the IDs.
• The working group continued its work up to date.
• In 2013 experts from OSCE were invited to
conduct an analysis regarding the cooperation of
the bodies responsible for the maintenance of the
VL and to propose a strategy for review of the VL.
• The analysis concluded that there are certain
shortcomings in the process of registering
residence and proposed that either the VL should
be maintained by those bodies who supply data for
it, or it should be maintained exclusively by the
SEC.
• The strategy for review of the VL confirmed the
suspicions regarding the accuracy of the VL, namely
that there are cases of significantly high number of
people registered on the same address. Even though
the MoI is aware of this situation, their official
statement is that all IDs were issued according to the
law.
• The strategy proposed 2 measures to be taken in the
following period – administrative and field review of
the voters list. MOST shall participate in this process
and probably will monitor the field review.
• The assumption is that the field review will be done
through list to people methodology.
LESSONS LEARNED
• The issue of the voters list has been misused by all the
main political parties, depending on whether they are
in power or in opposition.
• Therefore, this issue could be resolved only if there is
a strong political will, both by the political parties
and through that the bodies responsible for its
maintenance.
• The lack of independence with the state body in
charge of the voters list will always cause mistrusts in
the accuracy of the VL.
• MOST’s intention and goal has always been to ensure
the sustainability of the processes in which it
participated. The Voter List web site is an excellent
proof of that.
• Even though your organization is a part of the process,
that does not mean that you can have access to the
voters list.
• This means that you cannot provide argument opinions
and answers questions from the media regarding the
accuracy of the voters list.
• POLITICAL WILL IS THE ONLY AND GENUINE BASIS FOR AN UPDATED AND CLEAN
VOTERS LIST / REGISTRATION!
• VOTERS REGISTRATION AS ANY OTHER ELECTION RELATED ISSUE CAN NOT BE
CHANGED OVER NIGHT!
• IT TOOK 10 YEARS OF PRO-ACTIVE EFFORTS BY MOST AND OTHER RELEVANT
STAKEHOLDERS TO REACH A POINT IN WHICH THE DECISION MAKERS WOULD
CONSIDER MORE SERIOUS APPROACH IN REGARDS TO THE VOTERS
REGISTRATION AND THE ACCURACY OF THE VOTERS LIST.
• QUESTIONS
• Can CSOs comment on the accuracy of the voters
list?
• Should CSOs aim at determining the shortcomings
in the process and seek for accountability from the
state bodies part of this process?
THANK YOU!