FREE ELECTIONS FOR A FREE SOCIETY

Local elections 2017: What preceded, what needs to be done, what risks lie before us?

CIVIL – Center for Freedom is organizing a Conference titled “Free Elections for a Free Society”, at which it is inviting experts, analysts and civil society representatives to present their findings and recommendations on the election process, especially of the three-week period of the official pre-election campaign. The conference will try to give an answer to the question: What preceded, what needs to be done and what risks lie before us, in the context of the local elections in Republic of Macedonia?

The Conference will be held on September 25 (Monday), from 11.00 am to 1.00 pm, in the Journalists’ Club. This activity is part of the project Free media for a free society, supported by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The media, NGO’s, institutions, political parties and all interested citizens are also invited to the Conference. They will have the opportunity to ask questions or make comments that will be no longer than one minute, following the presentations of the speakers at the Conference.

The following speakers have been confirmed: Thomas Gerberich, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Chris Henshaw – Director of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Zoran Trajcevski – Director of the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services, Prof. Mirjana Najchevska – human rights expert, Prof. Osman Kadriu – university professor, Prof. Saso Ordanoski – political analyst, university professor and member of CIVIL’s Expert Board, Sandra Gavriloska – lawyer, legal expert and member of CIVIL’s Expert Board, Aleksandar Novakoski – lawyer, legal expert, former president of the SEC and member of CIVIL’s Expert Board, Dragan Malinoski – lawyer, legal expert and former president of the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption, Blagica Dimitrovska – President of Inkluziva – Association for promotion and development of inclusive society, Xhabir Deralla – CIVIL. The participation of several more speakers is to be confirmed.

Additional information

CIVIL – Center for Freedom is monitoring the election process from the start of the year. The monitoring is carried out through long-term observers, as well as through the cooperative network of activists, correspondents and citizen journalists. CIVIL will accredit at least 106 observers for observation on the day of the voting.

CIVIL’s election monitoring is enabled through projects that involve electoral aspects or are specifically designed for that purpose. CIVIL’s activities regarding the monitoring of the local elections in Republic of Macedonia 2017 are financed by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany, National Endowment for Democracy, USAID's Civic Engagement Project. CIVIL will immediately inform the public of any additional sources of funding.