North Macedonia is in the group of “flawed democracies” on the Democracy Index 2021 of the research division of the Economist Group, moving 5 places up in relation to last year when it was assessed as a “hybrid regime”. The country is ranked on the 73 position this year, with a total score of 6.03.

According to the criteria that the ranking is based on, Macedonia in four out of five total categories has a score above the average of 6.03. It is best in the area of the electoral process and pluralism – 7.42, and worst in political culture – 3.13.
The functioning of government is evaluated with 6.43, political participation – 6.11 and civil liberties – 7.06.

Xhabir Deralla, President of CIVIL – Center for Freedom, while commenting on the report for Sloboden Pecat, says that political culture depends on the entire social environment of the country, which means we will never see progress if all social factors are not equally included in the processes.

“This is primarily due to the enormous strong propaganda with hate speech and disinformation present in the public communication. Civil society is perhaps to be most credited for the improvement of the situation in this area (electoral process and pluralism), and hence, CIVIL as one of the two biggest organizations that deals with these issues, has its own share”, said Deralla for “Sloboden Pecat”.

In order to further improve the perception and situation in the area of fostering and practicing democracy, Deralla considers that honest, consistent and constant effort of all social factors is necessary.

“Honest, consistent and constant effort for the national interests of the country, strengthening of the political culture and fostering human rights and freedoms on all levels. Improving policies and practices of all political parties, and not just of part of them” emphasized Deralla.

Translation: N.Cvetkovska