EPI survey: Greater involvement of public in dialogue on change to electoral model
Skopje, 20 September 2022 (MIA) – The European Policy Institute (EPI) presented on Tuesday the conclusions of a national survey on North Macedonia’s electoral system and related reforms.
“Citizens expect that the public should be included in discussions on changing the electoral system and assessing the current system,” said EPI’s Simonida Kacarska, pointing out that the survey shows that citizens don’t support changes in electoral reforms before elections at the proposal of political parties. Among the citizens' expectations is the possibility of introducing online voting, as well as greater gender representation.
There are expectations of change, although probably, according to Kacarska, no clear attitudes and positions have been defined yet. We are aware, she adds, that there is mistrust in the institutions and that a more substantial involvement of the public is needed.
According to the general recommendations of the report in terms of the public, the Ministry of Justice, as a policy maker in this area, should regularly involve the wider public in the policy dialogue on electoral reforms, while the State Election Commission (SEC) should ensure the preparation and dissemination of voter education material regarding any (possibly adopted) electoral reforms, including the number of electoral districts, open lists and voter registration. SEC, according to Kacarska, should regularly educate citizens.
If open candidate lists for MPs are introduced, says the report, state institutions should prepare and massively promote detailed information on the selected type of open lists. The same applies for any changes in terms of electoral districts, with citizens being adequately informed of advantages and weaknesses, and how they affect voters.
“Party leaders should take the opportunity to promote the open lists within their party and encourage healthy competition among potential candidates in order to mitigate intra-party conflicts. SEC should promptly prepare and provide citizens with educational materials on open-list voting, to mitigate the risks of invalid ballots due to incorrect voting by voters who had not been properly informed about how to express their preferences on an open-list ballot,” noted Kacarska.
Regarding potential reforms in voting abroad, state institutions may consider the possibility of opening a debate on the number of MPs elected by voting abroad.
The report of the EPI project also recommends that in order to avoid high level of mistrust in the e-system for active voter registration, relevant institutions should provide information to the public on how the system works, which is supervising it and what are the benefits of active registration, both in the short-term and in the long-term.
EPI presented on Tuesday the final comparative results of the main survey conducted in May 2022 and the final survey conducted after a debate event held on June 4-5, 2022, as well as a short public policy document. The research was conducted as part of the project "ACT - Active Citizen Initiative" supported by the National Endowment for Democracy.
