WEEKLY ANALYSIS: Abuses of power surface ahead of elections

Forty days before elections and the political climate in Macedonia is sizzling. Political parties are doing calculations and analysis, with the purpose of choosing the best cadre potential and best options for a coalition, with which they will win the sympathy of the electorate. However, the pre-election period in Macedonia – a country with a ruined democracy, marks pressures, threats, political mobbing is carried out on citizens, while on the other hand, anxiety among government political officials is obvious. Instead of a ruined image of the Macedonian social-political reality, the public is being offered a rosy prism of the government that is fiercely struggling to maintain its power.

40 stamps from the SEC have disappeared 

Around 40 stamps of the State Election Commission (SEC) have disappeared from the storehouse in the “Ilinden” barracks for the municipalities of: Sopiste, Brvenica, Butel and Lipkovo. This was discovered by the commission of the SEC in doing inventory of the electoral materials. The stamps will be replaced with new ones and different from the previous ones, announced the SEC and emphasized that this does not mean that the stamps have been stolen, but that they might have not been returned from the previous elections.

The SEC has presented the revised Voters Register for inspection. The process of registering to vote for early parliamentary elections is ongoing in the diplomatic and consular missions of Republic of Macedonia abroad. The process of inspection and registration will last until November 11, whereby the Voters Register will be concluded on November 21. Citizens can check their data in the Voters Register in the regional offices of the SEC and on the following website: http://izbirackispisok.gov.mk.

However, the conclusion on the missing stamps and the reports of citizens on various types of anomalies in the Voters Register, such as double addresses of voters, the presence of active citizens on the list of “phantoms”, the registering of voters at incorrect addresses, according to experts do not instill trust in the SEC, and are already casting a shadow over the upcoming election process. The Przino Agreement and the mediation of the international factor had the purpose of having – fair and credible elections, as a key condition for overcoming the political crisis.

“Uniteti: submits Initiative to Constitutional Court for disputing elections

The Uniteti Party of Gzim Ostreni submitted an Initiative to the Constitutional Court to dispute the early parliamentary elections, because of, according to them, the imbalance of the electoral units, and especially the problem with the sixth electoral unit, which was pointed out by the SEC in many occasions, but for which the Ministry of Justice and Parliament showed no interest to solve. Uniteti are still decisive in that they will participate in the elections, and say that the goal of the Initiative is to prove that the government of VMRO-DPMNE and DUI is once again violating the Constitution and the Electoral Code, as they have deliberately left the sixth electoral unit with such huge deviations in the number of voters.

Media ether remains infected with the ruling viruses

Unbalanced reporting, not respecting legal regulations, broadcasting informative content that creates public opinion, according to which, there is almost no difference between the state and the party. This is how most of the media function, which still cannot recover from the “infections with government viruses”. On the other hand, there some media that are still bravely struggling to maintain the balanced approach in the informative process. This is the image of the media in this pre-election period.

The Ad-hoc body analyzed the Fifth report on the work of the 18 national media services. The Committee with three votes “for” and two “against” suggested initiating infringement proceedings against television stations: Sitel, Alfa and Nova. The fact that two members of the ad-hoc body voted against these proposals is also confirmation that the situation in the media sphere is obviously polarized. According to them, the law and Methodology of the Media Agency are inconsistently applied.

SPO exposed to strong criticism by the Prosecution

The outside expert provided by the manufacturer of the equipment for monitoring telecommunications, seized the data from the additional servers, in accordance with the court order, as the Special Prosecutor’s Office has announced, for prosecution of criminal acts arising from the content of the illegal surveillance of communications. They were waiting for the expert from “Ericsson” to arrive for more than a week, while the software in the Administration for Security and Counterintelligence (UBK) was secured and under supervision of the Ministry of Interior. The SPO say that the data they obtained is key evidence in an unpublished wiretapping case that should reveal who performed the illegal surveillance, whether it was UBK or foreign services, as the government has accused.

Minister of Culture Elizabeta Kancevska – Milevska, as a first suspect in the SPO case “Tenders”, was questioned in the Criminal Court before the judge of preliminary proceedings. Basic Court Skopje 1, through an announcement on the website, informed that the Court will inform, through announcements, on all of its decisions regarding the hearing of persons included in investigative and preliminary investigative cases lead by the SPO. According to the Court, with the SPOs procedures, spectacles are made and the presumption of innocence and legality of procedures is not taken into account.

Public prosecutors from the Public Prosecutor’s Office sent an open letter to Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva, strongly declaring their dissatisfaction with their actions and as they say with the “disgraceful and unprofessionalism with which she damages the public prosecutor profession”.

CIVIL – Center for Freedom expressed strong support to the SPO, in the process of discovering all criminal acts, with the purpose of – restoring the rule of law in the country.

Government promises new jobs, while citizens complain of party employments

While part of government actors sow vagueness over the problems with unemployment, party employments and economic stagnation and emphasize Macedonia’s ranking on the list of 10 world and five European economies for doing business, according to “Doing Business”, reactions of citizens- victims of corruption are becoming increasingly louder. Alternate Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy Dime Spasov, set an example of bad behavior this week, who with an official vehicle caused two traffic accidents, by hitting two vehicles. According to the MOI, he fled the scene, after which a driver, employed in the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, showed up before the team of investigation, as his alibi, in order to assume responsibility. This incident caused by Spasov sparked many reactions on the social networks. Citizens are sending fierce criticism and are demanding his resignation.

Citizens have the right and duty to participate in the creation of their society. These are also the recommendations of CIVIL – Center for Freedom, in accordance to the Civic Charter, promoted at the international conference “Global Perspectives”, which was held in Berlin, and to which CIVIL is a signatory to, among the 50 world organizations.

Monika Taleska