Macedonian Diaspora Shows Little Interest in Voting

Only about 4,000 of the 700,000 or so Macedonians living across the globe registered to vote on June 5 in Macedonian embassies and consulates before a Thursday deadline expired.
 
This year marks the first time that an election will include the votes of Macedonians living abroad.
 
"These figures are relatively small," the head of the State Electoral Commission, Boris Kondarko, acknowledged.
 
The ruling conservative VMRO-DPMNE party earlier this year predicted that interest in the diaspora to vote would be substantial.

A perceived high level of interest was the main justification for amending the election law to include residents abroad in March.

Kondarko said that whatever the figure, there was no point in debating the issue. Now, they needed to focus on conducting the election process smoothly.

The State Agency for Emigrants believes that from 1945 to 1990 about half-a-million Macedonians left the country and that over the last 16 years another 300,000 emigrated. They accept that this figure is not accurate and that obtaining an exact number is impossible.

Most of the burden of organising the vote abroad falls on the foreign ministry, which has already printed adverts in various foreign newspapers, calling on members of the diaspora to vote. The ministry will provide some 500 people to conduct the actual voting abroad. Voting is possible only in person.

The Electoral Commission has said that voting will not take place in neighbouring Greece, however. This is because Greek newspapers apparently refused to publish adverts containing the name "Republic of Macedonia", citing their ongoing dispute with Macedonia over the country's name.

In China, local laws prohibit publication of adverts in foreign languages.

Diaspora voters will elect three legislators to parliament, which currently has 120 seats. One will be from Europe, one from Australia and one from the Americas.

Some local experts and opposition parties previously expressed reserves about the whole idea, saying it had been rushed. They urged better preparation so as to avoid all suspicion of electoral fraud concerning votes from the diaspora.