Restoring trust and confidence in the election process

The polling stations, on the elections day, open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 7:00 p.m.

In order to vote, you have to fulfil the following conditions: you have to be a citizen of the Republic of Macedonia; you have to be legal age, i.e. to have at least 18 years old; you have to possess valid ID card, biometric ID or passport; you have to have a permanent residency on the territory of the Republic of Macedonia; you have to have a legal capacity and to be registered in the Voters list.

In order to vote, you have to possess a valid ID card or passport.

Despite the fact that you are currently situated abroad, you have a right to vote if you still have a residency in the Republic of Macedonia and valid passport.

If you are abroad, you can vote as follows: submit a voting application for the elections to the State Election Commission. Once the application is approved, on the election day, you can vote on a diplomatic – consular offices in the state where you are currently staying. It is important for you to be informed for the exact address of the office via MFA site.

Your ballot is valid and will be registered only if your will can be read on an unequivocal manner, i.e. there is only one candidate circled and it can be clearly seen which number and which political party is circled.

Your vote is secret and personal. The Electoral Board is obliged to provide conditions to avoid infringement of the right to vote.

No one can know for whom you have given your vote, unless you discover it by yourself. If someone tells you that he/she knows how you voted, this is because this person wants to intimidate you and discover for whom you have voted. The electoral right is equal as the freedom right. Do not take it off, do not fall for blackmail, threats and mistrust.

The role of the Electoral Body is: to conduct fair and democratic elections, to ensure the electoral right of the voters, to ensure normal flow of the voting and to provide secrecy and personal data protection.

The observers have a unique responsibility to help and ensure a conduction of fair and democratic elections, as well as protection of a voting right, and the same do not know and there is no way to discover how you voted.

The ballot is printed on Macedonian language, in Cyrillic script. In the municipalities in which at least 20 % of the citizens speak on a language different from the Macedonian, the ballot paper beside the Macedonian language and the Cyrillic script, is printed in the language used in that Municipality.

On the ballot paper, the candidates are listed in the order determined in the unique candidate list. The ballot paper is consisted of two parts: voting part and part that remains on the stack. The ballot does not contain any kind of serial number or ID, i.e. all the ballot papers are anonyms. The serial number on the stack is meant to monitor the number of voters.

Every election unit receives as many ballots as there are voters registered in the Voters list. If you ripped the ballot or mistaken your choice, you are not allowed to receive a new ballot.

While voting, no one have a right to look at your ballot, try to mark it, nor to force you to open it before putting it to the ballot box. Immediately report any kind of such attempt!

After 7.00 p.m., the Electoral board summarizes and counts the results from the polling station. Your ballot, along with the others, is packed in a bag, sealed with a security tape and safely transported to SEC.

The Voters list is public documentation which contains personal data of all the voters with a voting right in the Republic of Macedonia. It contains the following: information for the register data, amended or deleted data from the Voters list, address, gender, surname, personal name of one of the parents, personal name and URNC. If there is a change in your personal data, you have to make a change in the Voters list.

The only state body which is responsible to constantly lead, change and update the Voters list is the State Electoral Commission.

There is no need for you to register in the Voters list. The registration is automatically made, withdrawing updated information from the competent state bodies.

In order to have a reliable information, SEC puts the Voters list on a public inspection 15 days before the election day. There, you can check your voting polling station.

If you are not in the Voters list, you should submit a request for registration in the Voters list and enclose your valid ID card or passport. All the data should be submitted to the Regional SEC Office in your town. SEC will ask for an explanation from the Ministry of Interior why your data were not listed on time.

The registered personal data can be changed when submitting a request for supplementation to SEC. You have to personally submit the request, following valid ID or passport. This documents serves as a prove for changed personal data. If you change your address you will be assigned with a new polling station closest to your new residence.

When submitting a request for personal data update, SEC determines whether the request is justified, and if it is justified, it changes the data. In case when your request is denied, you have a right, in term of 3 days, to submit a complaint to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Macedonia.

A person can be delated from the Voters list because of: death, termination of citizenship or when the person’s business capacity is taken away. The Registration Office regularly submits reports for deaths to SEC, deleting the deceased persons from the Voters list. In case when there is a deceased person immediately before the elections, other person submits a request for deleting the data from the Voters list with an appropriate documentation.