Early Parliamentary Elections, 15 July 2020

Following an invitation to observe the early parliamentary elections in the Republic of North Macedonia scheduled for 15 July 2020, and in accordance with its mandate, ODIHR has deployed a Special Election Assessment Mission (SEAM) for these elections.

See livestreamed video from the presentation of preliminary findings on 16 July 2020 from Skopje:

The mission is led by Laima Andrikienė (Lithuania) and consists of a core team of nine experts based in Skopje. The ODIHR SEAM will continue the observation of the electoral process which started with an Election Observation Mission to the then-scheduled 12 April 2020 early parliamentary elections, which were suspended. 

The mission will assess whether the elections are held in line with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as with national legislation.

Observers will closely follow fundamental components of the elections such as:

• voter registration
• candidate registration
• campaign activities and media coverage of the campaign
• the work of the election administration and relevant government bodies
• election-related legislation and its implementation
• the resolution of election-related disputes

The ODIHR SEAM will also conduct qualitative and quantitative monitoring of media coverage of the election campaign.

Election Day

The ODIHR SEAM will not carry out systematic or comprehensive observation of the voting, counting and tabulation on election day. Mission members will, however, visit a limited number of polling stations on election day.