Election Incidents Intensify In Macedonia

A broken door at the local headquarters of the United for Macedonia party

Over the past weekend and on Monday various political parties, mainly from the opposition bloc, reported damage to their headquarters and intimidation of their members.
 
The last reported incident happened on Monday in the eastern Macedonian village of Oraovica, where unidentified persons demolished the local office of the largest opposition party, the Social Democrats.

Over the past weekend, the right wing opposition party United for Macedonia reported that one of their local headquarters, in the Radishani suburb of the capital Skopje, had been demolished.
 
Meanwhile, on late Sunday the opposition Liberal Democrats told press they had found a bullet shell in the car that transports their high ranking member Andrej Zernovski, who is running for an MP post.
 
“This is an obvious threat but I am not afraid,” Zernovski told media. “If this happens during the election campaign I can only imagine what they may have in store for the election day,” he added.

One analyst argues that some such incidents are part of "the election folklore".

“These kind of incidents are a regular part of the election folklore,” in Macedonia, says political analyst Marko Trosanovski from the Skopje based Institute for Democracy.

He argued that much of it “is instructed by political parties themselves” and that “a smaller part is the result of individual anger and rudeness”.

Trosanovski explains that “this way the political players create an alibi for their possible political defeat”.

Ilija Aceski, a sociology professor at Skopje’s St. Cyril and Methodius University, meanwhile, warns that the harsh political rhetoric meted out by party leaders also adds to the friction and may inspire violence.

“I fear more incidents are imminent although they may not be directly instructed from party headquarters,” he says. “Some people may simply misinterpret the speeches of the party leaders as an open invitation for violence”.

Earlier this month some 30 of the largest Macedonian political parties signed a code for electoral conduct. However, both opposition and ruling parties have continued to exchange accusations that their opponents are preparing serious election incidents and irregularities.

The last general elections in 2008 were particularly problematic in terms of violent incidents. One person died from gunshot wounds and several others ended up in hospital on election day, as violence erupted mainly in ethnic Albanian populated areas.

The country largely fixed up its image during the 2009 presidential and local elections, when domestic and international observers noted slightly fewer election incidents.

Police spokesperson Ivo Kotevski has said that the authorities are on high alert and that they are especialy vigilant in monitoring suspicious persons who have been linked to election incidents during past elections.