The issue of national identity is taken seriously by Balkan people – including the least serious among them.
Macedonia Election Profile:
How many people can vote?
More than 1.6 million people out of almost a total population of 2.2 million are eligible to vote in the presidential and local polls that will be held on March 22.
What is at stake?
The vote will be closely monitored by the EU, which sees it as an important indication of the country’s democratic potential after last year’s June general election was marred by violence and fraud in ethnic Albanian areas.
Role of the presidency:
Although not as powerful as the Prime Minister, the President has some important powers, wielding considerable influence over foreign policy and the armed forces for example.
Bearing that in mind, Branko Crvenkovski’s successor, alongside the government, will have to tackle the ongoing row over Macedonia’s name with Greece, which has already delayed its entry into NATO.
The President will, therefore, have a say on whether to seek an unpopular compromise on the name issue at the UN sponsored Athens-Skopje talks, or defend the right of the country to continue to call itself Macedonia, even if this results in Greece then blocking its hopes of joining the EU too.
The voting system:
In the presidential election, the country is treated as a single electoral unit. Any candidate winning more than half of all votes cast in the first round is immediately elected president.
If no one is elected, a run-off is staged two weeks later between the two front-runners.
The winner has to win a majority of votes cast, providing more than 40 per cent of the total electorate has voted. The presidential term lasts for five years.
Local elections:
Macedonia has 84 municipalities, 10 of which are in Skopje. As the capital is home to almost one-third of the country’s population, the position of mayor is very prestigious.
However, due to the mixed competences between the city and Skopje’s Municipalities that work separately, many city projects are gridlocked in bureaucracy and disputes.
The current mayor has recommended a new law on Skopje that would give more power and money to the city and reshape its borders leaving only the central urban areas under its competence.
Experience so far suggests voters in local elections have tended to incline to the parties in opposition. However, recent polls show the ruling VMRO DPMNE party and its leader, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, enjoying unprecedented support. This may make the local contest more interesting.
More than 1.6 million people out of almost a total population of 2.2 million are eligible to vote in the presidential and local polls that will be held on March 22.
What is at stake?
The vote will be closely monitored by the EU, which sees it as an important indication of the country’s democratic potential after last year’s June general election was marred by violence and fraud in ethnic Albanian areas.
Role of the presidency:
Although not as powerful as the Prime Minister, the President has some important powers, wielding considerable influence over foreign policy and the armed forces for example.
Bearing that in mind, Branko Crvenkovski’s successor, alongside the government, will have to tackle the ongoing row over Macedonia’s name with Greece, which has already delayed its entry into NATO.
The President will, therefore, have a say on whether to seek an unpopular compromise on the name issue at the UN sponsored Athens-Skopje talks, or defend the right of the country to continue to call itself Macedonia, even if this results in Greece then blocking its hopes of joining the EU too.
The voting system:
In the presidential election, the country is treated as a single electoral unit. Any candidate winning more than half of all votes cast in the first round is immediately elected president.
If no one is elected, a run-off is staged two weeks later between the two front-runners.
The winner has to win a majority of votes cast, providing more than 40 per cent of the total electorate has voted. The presidential term lasts for five years.
Local elections:
Macedonia has 84 municipalities, 10 of which are in Skopje. As the capital is home to almost one-third of the country’s population, the position of mayor is very prestigious.
However, due to the mixed competences between the city and Skopje’s Municipalities that work separately, many city projects are gridlocked in bureaucracy and disputes.
The current mayor has recommended a new law on Skopje that would give more power and money to the city and reshape its borders leaving only the central urban areas under its competence.
Experience so far suggests voters in local elections have tended to incline to the parties in opposition. However, recent polls show the ruling VMRO DPMNE party and its leader, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, enjoying unprecedented support. This may make the local contest more interesting.
