The first meeting of the Action group lasted about two hours. The group consisted of representatives of the four largest political parties and OSCE experts. The media reports the group had discussed organizing the period ahead and the comparative experiences of a number of countries that had carried out a purge of electoral lists.
However, the meeting, which was also attended by representatives of the non-government organizations Most and Civil, which took place in the offices of the OSCE mission in Skopje, did not produce a meaningful discussion or debate. The parties did not present their positions about the electoral list.
“Informal, informative meeting,” was the impression had by nearly all participants who gave short statements after the meeting. The representatives of the governing coalition VMRO-DPMNE and DUI did not give any comments following the meeting.
The TV channel 24 Vesti, some of the items that were discussed as ways to clean the electoral lists were: active registration of voters, vetting of the electoral lists door to door and identifying of the voters by fingerprint.
The parties are expected to come forth with more meaningful suggestions and to provide a look into their official positions this coming Monday when the Action group has agreed to sit at the table again and give a meaningful start in the implementation of the Przhino Agreement and of the recommendations given by Reinhard Priebe.
The first meeting of the Action group was scheduled on Monday, July 20, but was cancelled because, according to the Deputy President of SDSM Radmila Shekerinska, VMRO-DPMNE said their representatives are not going to show up, 30 minutes prior to the start.
The party in government blamed the opposition for not showing up at several of the scheduled meetings.
