Election experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) were in Skopje from 4 to 6 May to present the final report on North Macedonia's 2025 local elections and discuss its key findings and recommendations.
In meetings with state officials, civil society and representatives of the international community, the experts reviewed recent efforts by key oversight bodies to address priority recommendations from this and previous final reports, highlighting in particular the need for a comprehensive review of election-related laws and regulations. Discussions also focused on measures to prevent the misuse of public resources, improve campaign finance transparency and oversight, enhance women's political participation, improve the effectiveness and sustainability of the election administration, and ensure inclusive electoral processes, including for persons with disabilities.
During meetings with representatives of North Macedonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the State Election Commission, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption, the State Audit Office, and the Agency for Audio and Audio-visual Media Services, ODIHR experts outlined potential areas for further engagement. They offered assistance to the State Election Commission and the Ministry of Justice, including in the form of legal reviews, the sharing of best practices, and other follow-up activities to support efforts to bring the electoral process further in line with OSCE commitments and international standards.
ODIHR's election observation assesses a country's efforts to implement previous recommendations through changes in legislation, procedures, and practices. For North Macedonia, ODIHR election observation activity evaluated the follow-up to recommendations from the 2021 local elections and the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, concluding that four recommendations had been fully implemented, two mostly implemented, and 14 partially addressed, while the remainder have yet to be implemented.
