Macedonia held parliamentary elections on June 1 after a vigorously contested campaign. International and domestic nonpartisan observers concluded that the elections were generally well administered. However, incidents of politically motivated violence—leading in one case to the death of an individual and serious injury to others—along with other instances of voter intimidation, ballot box stuffing, proxy voting, and the premature closing of polling stations, unfortunately marred the conduct of the elections in two of the country’s six election districts.

This report is based on a qualitative study conducted by the People’s Mirror Strategic Research Center in partnership with the Consultative Committee on Human Rights (CCDH) for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) on voter apathy during the legislative elections of September 2007.

Citizens of Macedonia go to the polls this coming Sunday, June 1, to vote for a new parliament.  The snap elections come on the heels of Macedonia’s inability to secure an invitation to join NATO at April’s Bucharest summit following objections by Greece regarding the country’s constitutional name. The conduct of the elections—the extent to which they are judged as democratic—will have much to say about Macedonia’s continued prospects for Euroatlantic integration.