Skopje, 15 July 2025 (MIA) - Timely and appropriate amendments to the Electoral Code will contribute to organizing better elections, said Switzerland’s Ambassador to the country Véronique Hulmann on Tuesday, adding she hopes the recommendations made by the Venice Commission and the conclusions of the State Audit Office will be taken into consideration during the process.

“Switzerland has supported good governance in North Macedonia for many years. This is especially important because organizing free, fair, and democratic elections is of great importance. We hope that the recommendations from the Venice Commission and the conclusions from the State Audit Office will be taken into consideration during the amendments of the Electoral Code. Timely and appropriate amendments to the Electoral Code will contribute to organizing better elections. We hope this will happen in time,” Hulmann said at a conference on financial accountability in elections, organized by the State Audit Office, the OSCE Mission, and IFES.

According to the State Audit Office, there were no major violations regarding financial accountability during the previous presidential and parliamentary elections, but systemic weaknesses remain.

“The presidential and parliamentary elections saw no major violations. The key observation from the State Audit Office is that 77% of the paid political advertising for the presidential elections was funded from the state budget via the State Election Commission, while for the parliamentary elections this figure stands at around 67%. However, systemic weaknesses remain, particularly in how donations are regulated after the results are announced. Our current legislation allows certain legal and physical entities to make donations after the final results are published, meaning that once the outcome is known interested parties can choose to donate specifically to the winning candidate, rather than equally across the board,” Chief Auditor Maksim Acevski said.

Acevski also said he is satisfied with the accountability of the political parties, noting that out of 60 parties, only four failed to meet legal deadlines for the submission of financial reports and reports on donations.

The country’s next elections are the regular local elections, expected to be held in October.

Photo: MIA