Xhabir Deralla

Ahead general elections in December, Macedonia's ruling party, VMRO DPMNE, is using its old tactics to put pressure on employees in the public administration to support it, CIVIL - Center for Freedom and MOST, the two NGOs at the forefront of monitoring Macedonian elections, say.

The scope of a planned "field check" of voters in Macedonia, due to start on Monday, will depend on cross-referencing of voters' data from various state institutions, which should show how many listed voters are "problematic" and need to be checked in person.

The international OSCE/ODIHR mission as well as the two main local monitoring organizations seeking to follow the elections have announced a significant boost in the number of observers for the vote which will put Macedonia's troubled democracy to the test.

The State Electoral Commission said that the voting went well with reports of minor irregularities.

“By 17h 41, 23 per cent of the electorate had cast their ballots” informed.

This is  considerably less than at the previous presidential poll five years ago when by this time, 48,73 percent had voted.