North Macedonia local elections 2025: ODIHR election observation mission final report

North Macedonia’s 2025 local elections were competitive and offered voters a genuine choice from a range of political alternatives. While the election administration generally managed preparations efficiently and transparently, inconsistencies and gaps in the election legislation, as well as limited resources and outdated infrastructure, adversely affected some aspects of its work. Fundamental freedoms were largely respected, and candidates were able to campaign freely, but instances of misuse of public resources, allegations of pressure on public-sector employees and voters, as well as of vote buying, were of concern. Election day in both rounds was generally calm and orderly, although some procedural shortcomings were noted, and instances of voter tracking were also observed.

These are some of the main conclusions from the final report on the 2025 local elections published today by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

The report offers 29 recommendations to improve the election process and support efforts to bring it further in line with the commitments made by all OSCE states, as well as other international obligations and standards for democratic elections.

Key recommendations include:

• Comprehensively revising election-related legislation to eliminate inconsistencies, ambiguous provisions, and gaps;
• Effectively investigating allegations of vote-buying, pressure on voters, and misuse of administrative resources;
• Undertaking further efforts to enhance women’s political participation;
• Revising campaign regulations to ensure equitable conditions for all contestants, including in the allocation of public resources, advertising space, and media opportunities;
• Guaranteeing the State Election Commission a sustainable, adequate and timely budget to enable it to fulfill its mandate effectively;
• Strengthening campaign finance transparency and accountability, including by improving reporting of income and expenditure and ensuring transparency of public reimbursement mechanisms for media advertising;
• Ensuring effective electoral dispute resolution by examining all complaints on their merits and issuing reasoned decisions without undue delay;
• Ensuring the full electoral rights of persons with disabilities by repealing restrictions on the rights of persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities and adopting and enforcing clear accessibility standards across all stages of the electoral process;

ODIHR deployed an Election Observation Mission on 5 September 2025, which remained in the country until 12 November 2025.

All 57 participating States across the OSCE region have formally committed to following up promptly on ODIHR’s election assessments and recommendations. Information on previous ODIHR recommendations and the extent to which they have been implemented so far can be found on p. 33 of the report. The ODIHR electoral recommendations database tracks the implementation of recommendations across the entire OSCE region.