The diaspora doesn’t care who will be the next president


A record low turnout of the diaspora is observed in this election campaign, so that the final number of Macedonian citizens who can vote in the diplomatic-consular representation country has reduced to 1,782 voters.

According to the information, these are people who are registered in the Voter’s list and will now be placed in a special report as voters who will exercise their right to vote outside the country. Given that there isn’t any precise data on how many of the registered voters in the Voter’s list are outside the country, the estimates are that the very low voter interest in the DCO can negatively affect the required turnout of 40 percent in the first round. Then, for the election to be considered successful, at least 720 thousand voters will have to use their right to vote.

1,782 of North Macedonia’s emigrants will be voting on April 20th in 32 embassies and consulates abroad: in Abu Dhabi, Belgrade, Berlin, Bern, Bonn, Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest, Washington, Venice, Vienna, Detroit, Zagreb, Istanbul, Canberra, Copenhagen, London, Ljubljana, Melbourne, Munich, New York, Oslo, Ottawa, Paris, Prague, Pristina, Rome, Sarajevo, Stockholm, Toronto, The Hague and Chicago.

The total number of interested in voting abroad is, in fact, somewhat larger, since in 15 DCPs there will be no voting because less than ten voters are registered in those locations. These are Macedonian DCPs in Ankara, Astana, Athens, Warsaw, Doha, Cairo, Kiev, Madrid, Moscow, New Delhi, Beijing, Podgorica, Thessaloniki, Sofia and Tirana.

Before April 20, 256 members and deputy members of the electoral board should leave abroad, as representatives of SDSM, VMRO-DPMNE, DUI and Besa (relation of the largest ruling and opposition parties) in order to conduct the voting. In addition to them, two employees in the DCO will participate in the process in which they will vote. Given that the elections are in two rounds, the primitive estimates are that the elections beyond the country will cost the budget from 350 thousand to 500 thousand euros.

Since the introduction of the DCM vote, which was first held in the 2011 general elections, there is a steady decline in the turnout of the emigrants for participation in the election processes in the country. This has become particularly noticeable in the latest rounds of voting, so the referendum in September last year was organized in 33 DCPs for a total of 2,694 voters.  However, in the early general elections in 2016, elections for about 5.7 thousand Macedonian citizens living outside the country were organized. It is also a symbolic figure, given the information that tens of thousands of citizens have migrated from Macedonia in recent years, but at least three times higher than the latest number of voters that will be able to exercise their right to vote in the DCO.

(AMM)