ODIHR concludes support to electoral reform working group in Skopje, will support review of electoral code

A team of experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) visited Skopje from 13 to 14 June 2018 to provide assistance at the final meeting of the working group on electoral reform, which is mandated to review the country’s electoral code.

The working group was established by the Ministry of Justice, and the meeting was co-organized with the civil society organization MOST. The group included representatives of parliamentary political parties, relevant institutions and civil society organizations, and met five times since it was set up in May. Previous ODIHR electoral recommendations were an integral part of the discussions.

The ODIHR team shared expertise and good practices for effective electoral reform, including on the benefits of broad engagement, inclusiveness and transparency in the group’s work. Experts supported the group by providing technical and legal expertise, particularly in the areas of election administration, voter registration and media coverage of campaigns.

The output of the sessions will serve as the basis for the Ministry of Justice to either draft amendments to or prepare a new electoral code in the coming months. ODIHR will continue to support this process by offering technical expertise and a legal review.

All OSCE participating States have committed themselves to promptly following up on ODIHR’s electoral recommendations, and ODIHR has consistently supported these efforts.

The support to the working group was provided under the project Support to Elections in the Western Balkans, which aims to strengthen ODIHR’s assistance to the electoral follow-up processes in the region. The project is funded by the European Union and the Austrian Development Agency. The visit was co-ordinated with the OSCE Mission to Skopje.