Numerous irregularities, pressures, tensions, manipulations, demographic interventions and other types of structural violence are the main feature of today’s rerun of the local elections
Most of the irregularities and tensions occurred during the rerun in the municipality Center. Irregularities and pressures have also been registered during the rerun in the municipality Struga and the run-off vote in the municipality Dolneni.
These numerous irregularities, pressures and manipulations have been registered by Civil’s observers, who were, once again, obstructed in their job. On the telephone hotlines, Civil received a number of calls from citizens related to various types of pressures and irregularities, in addition to the calls related to lack of information, or attempts to reduce voter’s turnout.
Civil’s observation is that a demographic intervention was once again used in the ballot cast in Center. The citizens who came to vote from Pustec, Albania were this time coupled and reinforced by the “new voters” from Veles, Strumica, Kavadarci, in addition to voters from other municipalities in Skopje, such as Aerodrom and Butel. Furthermore, there were also voters who did not have a place of birth in their identification documents. Instead of that, there was a designation “XXK”.
A series of “inventive” attempts to misinform the citizens have been detected in the municipality Center, aimed at preventing them from voting. Leaflets claiming that the rerun is on 28 April were left in citizens’ mailboxes. During the ballot cast, the same occurred in front of several polling stations, where party activists were persuading people that the voting is not taking place today or convincing them that the particular place in not the polling station where they vote in order to confuse the voters and to reduce the turnout.
According to Civil’s observers and reports received on our telephone hotlines, the elevators in several multi-storey buildings in the municipality Center have been cut off power or the doors on the top floor have been deliberately blocked.
The rerun was carried out in a tensed atmosphere, along with utmost use of the institutions to exert pressure on the voters. Strong police presence was evident in all municipalities where ballot was cast today. Many vehicles without registration plates have been reported in the close vicinity of the polling stations.
Armed police officers have been seen in the hallway of the Primary School Pestaloci.
In front of the Civil Engineers Home(Dom na gradezhni rabotnici), uniformed police officers and police officers dressed as civilians have been identifying and recording the names of the present journalists; refusing, in the same time, to show their identification documents to them. One female journalist was harassed and punched by a person at the polling station 2855 in Civil Engineers Home, in respect of which Civil is in possession of a documented statement.
Party activists have been preventing television crews and journalists from minding their work at several polling stations in Center.
Organized transportation and political agitation have been reported in Zhitoshe, within the municipality Dolneni, where too, strong police presence has been reported. In front of the polling station in the village Debreshte, municipality Dolneni, camera for video recording has been mounted at the police vehicle, overlooking the entrance of the polling station.
Civil is processing all information that is continuously being received by the observers and the mobile teams, activists and citizens. New information and analysis shall be released tomorrow at the press conference in the Journalists Club (Klub na novinari) at 1:30 p.m.
