During yesterday’s meeting of the Action group comprised of representatives of the four largest political parties, who are working on implementing the Przhino Agreement, an idea was offered for creating a new electoral list to which the voters will register by giving their fingerprint to the authorities. The voting is said to be carried out in the same fashion.
According to Darko Aleksov who is the head of the civil organization Most, the identification of the voters in the various districts, with the use of fingerprints, is a new procedure that has been already considered within the Electoral Law and should be implemented in all voting locations starting 2019. Aleksov considers this idea to be good because now the citizens can register themselves on the list without having to go through the Ministry of Interior bodies or at the Birth-certificate Office.
Aleksov says it is too early to prepare for the elections because in this phase they still have to develop a good foundation for improving of the electoral process.
Why do you think the suggestion of registering voters by fingerpring is a good idea?
– First of all we have to distinguish between what is registering to vote and securing the right to vote. At the moment, voters are registered in the Electoral list automatically by the relevant state organ- the Ministry of Interior (MVR) and/or the Birth Certificate Office. The procedure that should replace the current method and be implemented in the period leading up the election should be active registration of voters by collecting biometric data and fingerprints. Regarding the use of ink, the method was part of the voting procedure in that it was used to mark those who had already given their vote at the voting station. This method was revoked by the Constitutional Court. Identifying voters at the voting stations by taking their fingerprint is a completely new procedure that was entered in the Electoral Law and was planned to be implemented in 2019 in all electoral units and voting stations.
Can you tells us how much time is needed to implement this suggestion?
If this process is implemented in all municipalities (and it is recommended that it is so that all citizens are included in the process) and if the State secures enough resources (financial, technical and professional), we think this operation can be carried out in a reasonable span of three months. I want to reiterate that the State Election Commission (DIK) has 34 offices that are functioning in the duration of the year. In the last elections DIK opened additional offices in all municipalities in Republic of Macedonia.
How will the registering of voters and the voting process be carried out if your suggestion is accepted?
– The voters would register, rather they would subscribe to vote in the regional and municipal offices of the DIK. Upon registering, the Voting Commission’s clerks will use a biometric scanner to take a fingerprint so that double registration is avoided. The same scanner will be used at the voting stations to identify the voters.
Have you started preparing the April elections and do you think these elections (considering they are crucial for the country’s future) will require greater effort and work as compared to previous elecetions?
– It is still early to start preparing. This phase should see the setting of the foundations for improving the electoral process. Regarding how much effort and works needs to be put it, to us it would not make too great of a difference because we’ve had snap elections called in 50 days before the date that had been set. We have had a parallel implementation of two election processes with different end dates set for the election activities. The methodology that we are using is based on international monitoring standards which are independent of the current political context.
