For the last seven days i've not been in the MES office, i've been in Macedonia observing their local elections as part of a OSCE Election Observation Mission. The OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) is an international organisation made up of 57 member states who meet together to look at a number of issues relating to security cooperation in the region. They also cover human rights and democracy and one of their most prominent activities is the observation of elections in their member states.
So it was through this process that I found myself on a flight to Skopje last week to join up with a group of observers from around the world (I believe at least twenty coutries were represented). The other observers came from all walks of life, we had people who were part of international efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, others who were working on the humanitarian situation in Sudan, and we also had people who worked in local councils or central government departments here in the UK. We even had a few people who'd stood for election themselves in the past.
The goal of election observation is not to act as the "election police" and to intervene when we see something wrong, but to watch the election take place and assess the success of the process against the election law of Macedonia and the OSCE standards for democratic elections. To undertake a proper assement of the elections the first members of the OSCE team (referred to as the Core Team) arrived in Skopje in mid-February. The Core Team included experts in the media, politics and elections as well as legal experts and security advisors. Later - about 4 weeks before election day - the Long Term Observers arrived and were deployed around the country to eight different regions. The job of LTOs is to start the observation process (meeting with election officials and political party representatives) and prepare for the arrival of their short term observers a few weeks later.
After the LTOs have been in post for a few weeks the Short Term Observers (STOs) arrive in country to prepare for their own deployment. In this mission's case the STOs arrived in Skopje four days before the election took place. After a day of briefings in Skopje my fellow STOs and I were deployed to one of the eight regions of the country where we would be spending the rest of our time. In my case I was deployed to the Tetevo region in the West, and close to the Kosovan border. Upon arrival in our area of operation our initial task was to observe early voting and familiarise ourselves with the town.
One of the biggest differences between the UK and Macedonia's electoral sysem is early voting. In the UK we have postal voting or proxy voting if you're not able to make it to the polling station on election day. In Macedonia however you have to register for Homebound voting, where the polling station literally comes to you. So on my second day in my area of operation I was going to people's homes to see how the process worked. Other observers also visited prisons across the country as they also have the right to vote. One thing that struck me during this part of my trip was just how pleased people were to be taking part in the democratic process. People greeted us with smiles and open arms when we arrived to watch them vote. In fact that could apply to a number of events that happened during my visit. Later in the day my team came across a party rally in the town square to mark the end of the political campaign. A good few hundered people packed the square chanting and singing for hours while waiting for their candidate, something we just don't see here in the UK, especially as in this case where the party was not expected to recieve many voters. Turnout was also much higher than we have seen in recent British elections. The 2012 local elections in the UK saw a turnout of just 31.3% compared with 67% for these Macedonian elections. To put that in context here in the UK we haven't seen turnout that high in local elections since 1997 and that was only because it coincided with national elections and saw the return of the Labour Party to Government for the first time in 18 years.
Election day itself was an extremely long day with our work starting at 06.00 and not finishing until close to midnight, some of our colleagues worked even later not getting back until after 05.00. As a team we observed the entire election process from the preperations made before a polling station is opened at 7am to the close of the polling and the counting and tabulation. During the day my partner and I, together with our interpreter and driver, visited a total of 12 polling stations in all parts of our region, some in urban centres and others in very small rural villages where the number of voters was tiny. One of the current elements of Macedonian election law is that it states the specific number of polling stations that have to be set up in the country. While in theory the law also states that there should be no polling station with less than 10 voters, this can't always be adhered to as a result of the first law. In this election that led to a case where two polling stations were created with no registered voters to actually cast a ballot. Both polling stations closed immediately after opening.
After all the votes were cast and counted and we had sent our findings back to the Core Team in Skopje the results were analysed and any trends or issues were identified. An interim report was written based on the observations from election day and the previous weeks which was then presented to the Macedonian government and the press the following day. I'm pleased to say in this case the elections were judged to have been efficiently administered and highly competetive. However the OSCE, through the work of the observers, did identify a number of issues that still need to be addressed including the misuse of media and the continued problem of ethnic tensions. If you're interested in the report you can read the full findings here.
Personally I found the whole experience extremely rewarding. It was fascinating to see the development of democracy in another country and to absorb the different cultures that are present in Macedonia.
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