CIVIL came out with a public announcement at 5:00 pm, with findings from the election monitoring carried out in the period 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm. We present the entire announcement.
As it is usual for this time of the election day, things are calm. There are repeated cases of citizens not figuring on the Voters Register. Also, over ten cases of voters have not been marked.
According to the observers, many people with disabilities had a problem exercising their right to vote, due to the inaccessibility of polling stations, but also due to oversights of the election administration to implement the improvements and reforms that the SEC implemented recently, in cooperation with the organization Inkluziva.
CIVIL’s monitoring notes violation of election procedures also in the case with the observer from Synergy, who was allowed to take the place of a member of the Election Board at polling station 2381 in the Municipality of Petrovec. The observer of Synergy took over the role by checking voters with an UV lamp.
Observers report about greater movement in the Bitola neighborhood of Bair, where voters are being transported in an organized manner with automobiles and vans.
In the category family and group voting, cases have been noted in the municipalities of Prilep, Kicevo, Bitola, Karpos, Aerodrom, Kisela Voda, Lipkovo and Shuto Orizari. Among them is also the report from polling station 2447 and 2447/1 in the village of Laskarce, Municipality of Saraj. The Election Board had not reacted at all to several cases of family and group voting. “Sit your bottom down” said one member of the Election Board to CIVIL’s observer (even used a bit freer vocabulary), after the observer had asked “why is family voting permitted”. In Otlja, Municipality of Lipkovo, marking spray and UV lamps had not been used, while family voting had been completely tolerated.
A current Member of Parliament has been noticed transporting voters several times to polling station 1222 in Negotino.
A current member of a municipal council violates election silence and propagates among citizens in Delcevo.
At polling station 2479 in the neighborhood of Zelezara, Municipality of Gazi Baba, a voter received a ballot that had already been circled, after which the police were called, whereas the voting had been interrupted for 45 minutes.
The abuse of children for political purposes continues. With party t-shirts and caps, today the citizens of the Municipality of Shuto Orizari, in the primary school of “Brakja Ramiz i Hadid” exercised their voting right. In addition to the parents, their underage children also wore party symbols.
