SKOPJE (Macedonia), April 28 (SeeNews) – Shortcomings during the election campaign in Macedonia overshadow a generally well-run election day, international observers said on Monday.
Macedonia’s ruling conservative VMRO-DPMNE party won Sunday's early general elections and its candidate for president, Gjorge Ivanov, was re-elected for a second term in office in a presidential run-off held the same day, data of the State Election Commission indicated earlier on Monday.
Speaking after polls closed, the leader of the opposition SDSM party, Zoran Zaev, said his party will not recognise the results of either the parliamentary or the presidential elections, news agency MIA reported. Zaev accused VMRO-DPMNE of buying voters and called for holding new elections, the news agency added.
Fundamental freedoms were respected and candidates were able to campaign without obstruction in the elections, the international monitors said in a joint statement posted on the website of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). However, shortcomings identified in the first round of the presidential election two weeks earlier, "including the blurring of state and party activities and biased and unbalanced media coverage in favour of the ruling party, either persisted or were more pronounced,” they added.
According to international observers, Sunday’s elections were effectively administered and election day went smoothly, but there were real problems before and after the vote.
“The governing party did not adequately separate its party and state activities while, regrettably, the major opposition party announced it would not recognize the election results. I strongly encourage all political actors to work together to create a positive post-election environment,” Christine Muttonen, the special co-ordinator who led the short-term OSCE observer mission, said in the statement.
The coalition led by VMRO-DPMNE was backed by 42.18% of people who went to the polls, while its main opponent, the left-wing SDSM party, was supported by 24.91% of the votes.
Ivanov was re-elected for a five-year term on 55.25% of the ballots cast versus 41.17% for SDSM's candidate, Stevo Pendarovski.
“To characterize the elections in a nutshell, the run-up failed to meet important OSCE commitments, including on the separation of state and party, on ensuring a level playing field, on the neutrality of the media, on the accuracy of the voters list and on the possibility of gaining redress through an effective complaints procedure,” the international observers said. “All of this, unfortunately, overshadowed an election day that did meet commitments and was orderly and peaceful.”
The overall assessment of polling station openings, voting, and the counting and tabulation of votes was positive, the statement concluded.
The OSCE/ODIHR mission deployed 489 monitors for the elections in Macedonia.