Skopje, 27 March 2024 (MIA) – With four votes in favor and two against the State Election Commission (SEC) adopted a Voter Identification Guide on Wednesday, stating that voters will be able to go to the polling stations only once when the parliamentary elections and the second round of the presidential elections are held simultaneously on May 8.

The Guide, proposed by three SEC members, was presented by Boris Kondarko who said it would apply only when there are two or more different kinds of elections or referendums in a single day.

“According to the Guide, once the voters fulfill their right to vote and choose freely if they would like to vote at the presidential or parliamentary elections, they will no longer be able to return to the polling station later in the day and vote at the elections that they didn’t choose to vote at previously. The election board will be obliged to ask the citizens which elections they would like to vote at, with the citizens having the right to choose to vote only at the presidential elections, parliamentary elections or both,” the SEC member said.

According to Kondarko, the rule preserves the right of the citizens to make a free choice and protects the citizens against potential manipulations, pressure and abuse.

“This is in the interest of the citizens, as well as of the electoral bodies which will be able to work faster and more efficiently. It would also help reduce the chance of possible technical or accidental mistakes by the election boards which would harm the citizens and needlessly create a negative image of the organization of the vote which SEC is responsible for,” Kondarko said.

During the discussion, the Commission dismissed Boban Stojanovski’s proposal to allow voters to return to the polling stations later in the day and vote. According to Stojanovski, the use of fingerprint readers would prevent abuses and allow for voters to be identified separately for the different elections.

Stojanovski assessed that Kondarko’s proposal creates the possibility of voters being discriminated since they will be able to choose the type of elections they would like to vote at only once, when they enter the polling station, and won’t be able to return if they change their minds later in the day.

SEC President Aleksandar Dashtevski said Stojanovski’s proposal should be supported due to the fact the country is a signatory of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.

“If we take into account the Universal Declaration for Human Rights which states that anyone should be allowed to vote under equal conditions and that no one can limit the right to vote, then I don’t know if we should act like this since the option with the fingerprint readers is available,” Dashtevski said.