At the beginning of the second week of May the biggest political parties in the Republic of Macedonia presented their election programs. On May 9 the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) declared the main slogan of their election campaign, under the heading 3E “Economy, Europe, Education“, and on the next day May 10 the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRODPMNE) presented its election program for the upcoming elections under the title “Rebirth in 100 steps“.1 If one is aware that the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia (RM) has scheduled the elections for Parliament on July 5, the former party activities seem rather normal. However if the rules of the election campaign, set in the new election legislation of RM, are analyzed and more precisely article 74, it is quite clear that the election campaign should start 20 days before the election. According to the valid legislation, the election campaign should not start before June 15. The present situation in the Republic of Macedonia sets the question: Is the new election legislation in the Republic of Macedonia already violated?!
The full document can be found here: https://idscs.org.mk/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IDSCS-Policy_Brief-Election%20Campaign-ENG.pdf