PRESS RELEASE
Skopje, January 16, 2026 — CIVIL – Center for Freedom announces the release of the print edition of its comprehensive election monitoring and analysis report:
Democracy Navigator 2025 – Local Elections in North Macedonia: Lessons Not Learned
(LINK to the digital edition in English)
The 136-page publication brings together CIVIL’s field monitoring, analytical reporting, and policy recommendations related to the high-stakes 2025 local elections held in October and November in North Macedonia. It is the result of a months-long effort by CIVIL’s monitoring, media, and research teams, working in close coordination with domestic and international partners, including those within the Defending Democracy Global Initiative.
The report was first presented publicly on December 15, 2025, at the closing event of Human Rights Week and the Defending Democracy: Horizons of Freedom programme. It was fully integrated and published online shortly thereafter and is now available in printed book format — marking an important step in ensuring its long-term accessibility for institutions, researchers, decision-makers, civil society, and the public.
A record, not a ritual
“Lessons Not Learned is not a ceremonial post-election publication. It documents persistent structural weaknesses, democratic backsliding, and institutional failures observed during the local elections — and places them within a broader context of democratic resilience, hybrid threats, and erosion of public trust,” said CIVIL President Jabir Deralla on the occasion of the arrival of the print edition.
The report combines long-term and short-term election observation findings, analysis of political, legal, and media environments, early warning signals and risk factors, and concrete policy recommendations for institutions, political actors, civil society, and international partners.
The publication forms a central part of CIVIL’s Democracy Navigator project, supported by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany in 2025. It also contributes to the wider strategic framework outlined in CIVIL’s global roadmap publication Defending Democracy and Human Rights: Report and Policy Recommendations.
Digital access and multilingual availability
The full online edition of the report remains freely accessible on CIVIL’s media platform in English on this LINK.
In addition, the report has been published in Macedonian and Albanian as a series of thematic chapters on CIVIL’s media platforms:
- In Macedonian under the category ИЗБОРИ on CivilMedia.mk
- In Albanian under the category ZGJEDHJE on Drejt.mk
This ensures broad public accessibility and inclusion across linguistic communities. All content is published under a Creative Commons 4.0 license, making CIVIL’s work accessible and reusable in accordance with the terms of the license.
From monitoring to accountability
The print publication of Lessons Not Learned is intended not only as documentation, but as a tool for accountability, reflection, and reform. As CIVIL stated in its year-end statement on December 31:
“This is not a year-end summary. It is a year-end marker. This is not a celebration of closure, but a refusal of complacency.”
The same principle guides this report: democratic erosion does not pause — and neither should public attention.
About CIVIL
CIVIL – Center for Freedom is a civil society organization based in North Macedonia working on democracy, human rights, election integrity, media freedom, and countering disinformation and hybrid threats. Through monitoring, analysis, public dialogue, and international cooperation, CIVIL contributes to strengthening democratic resilience nationally and across Europe.
CIVIL – Center for Freedom