The latest “States in Transit” by Freedom House for 2020 shows that Macedonia has advanced in the criteria such as “electoral process” and “independent media”. This year’s score is 3/75 and this is the third consecutive year in a roll where the democratic progress is improving. Macedonia and Kosovo are the only countries in the Balkan where advancements in the democracy for 2020 was stated. Macedonia received the worst score in Freedom House’s report in 2017 with 3.57.
Freedom House’s report evidences the progress in the media sector, which independence was scored with 3.5. Still, this score is not favorable since only fighting corruption and judicial independence in Macedonia are the only lower ranked items. In 2020, only the civil society received the highest score of 4.75.
Despite the progress, Macedonia remains in the group of countries with transitory hybrid regimes, which includes countries such as: Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Hungary, Moldavia and Ukraine.
The category of states with transitory hybrid regimes means that in Macedonia the democratic institutions are fragile and there are significant challenges that refer to political rights and civil freedoms.
One of the authors of this year’s Freedom House Report, Michael Schmelcher, gave a statement for the Voice of America where he said that only in Kosovo and Macedonia a progress was achieved in the media.
