THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM IN THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA - ACTUAL DILEMMAS
THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM IN THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA - ACTUAL DILEMMAS

Summary/Abstract: In our society it has become a rule to talk about elections merely through the prism of the issue of irregularity of the election process, without hardly ever opening a competent discussion regarding the systematic decisions contained in the Law on Elections and their appraisal from the aspect of effects they make on the two key objectives which an electoral system is to accomplish, namely a stable government and a representative parliament. Throughout this entire period the inclusion of the scientific public seems to be solely a reaction to the debates among the parties, and not any more profound considerations by the qualified expert public which treats this issue. In line with the aforementioned, this work focuses on the current debate on the two new proposed decisions which have implications on the final distribution of the terms of office in the parliament, and thus on the formation of the government and reaching of decisions. On one hand, this refers to the likelihood of including the Macedonian immigrants (the Diaspora) in the election process, whereas, on the oth-er hand, it proposes additional terms of office for the parties of the minor ethnic communities. These are issues which have seriously provoked the already polarized party stage. Simultaneously, the avoidance of the ‘real’ topics which bring about the development of our democracy is evident in such debates. Namely, one of these topics is the preferential voting, as the unique real option for democratization of the Macedonian electoral system, which unfortunately did not prove ‘appealing’ for any political party.

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