The electoral system in the Republic of Macedonia

Abstract

Initially the paper will treat the history of pluralist elections held in Macedonia since its independence and the establishment of a democratic system after 1991 and throughout the democratic transition until today. Given the fact that elections determine the character of the political regime of the country, Macedonia so far has applied several electoral systems. Majoritarian system in the allocation of seats in parliament was initially implemented, then combined election system, followed by current proportional system of elections. These frequent reforms in the electoral system in Macedonia have come as a result of dissatisfaction of opposition with manipulation of electoral processes that have been held so far. Almost every new legislature of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia has by chosen by a new electoral law or amendments to the current election law. Currently, in the Republic of Macedonia, talks to change the current Electoral Code backed by the European Commission are being held. Requests for change, initiated by the opposition, are dealing with the number of electoral units, the issue of open voting lists, applying the mechanisms and guarantees to ensure the impossibility of fraud in the electoral process. The purpose of this research is to give a contribution through the scientific arguments in order to identify the best modalities of the electoral system in Macedonia relying on political, social, psychological factors, including the citizen’s awareness.