According to our methodology of work, we do not participate and do not predict the election process and its outcome. Our job is to assess these elections, whether they will be conducted in agreement with the international standards, and we are going to reveal our assessment on the day after the elections, on 6 June, says OSCE/ODIHR chief Julian Peel Yates in his interview with Nova Makedonija.
JPY: As I have said to the leaders of the political parties, we have come with a blank sheet of paper that we are yet to fill in. Of course, as a mission we are gathering information about the previous situation in the country to be able to assess the election process. Now we are fully operational so that we can produce the assessment in the end. In doing so, we assess how every day of the election process went.
NM: What is your view, after meeting the relevant authorities and the participants in the elections process, of the atmosphere considering that black scenarios are mentioned?
JPY: A few days have passed since the beginning of the election campaign. The crucial thing is that we are obliged not to interfere with the process, not to comment and not to make any premature assessments and judgments.
NM: Compared with other countries, is it customary to speculate about various scenarios and have harsh rhetoric in the run-up to the elections?
JPY: Politics in the world is a contest. Look at the clamor in the Parliament in London. It is very noisy with lots of discussions. What is important is that the discourse and the way the debate is conducted are civilized. We hope that is going to be the case here. The elections belong to the citizens and it is very important that they can vote freely without any pressure on them.
NM: In the previous election process, the main remark of the monitoring mission of the OSCE/ODIHR concerned the voters’ list, or more specifically, the great number of people registered as voters. Now that list has been revised and yet there are 40,000 voters more than before. What do you think of it?
JPY: That issue was highlighted as early as the assessment was being made of whether it was necessary to send monitors to these elections and how many. It is true that we raised concern with regard to this issue, which is being watched by a team of long-term observers. Of course, the population is rising and it is not irrational to have more voters. But this issue is complex in every country and takes a lot of time and energy to study it. We are going to do that here over the next days. The caution in these elections is very high. There will be some 7,000 police officers deployed on the election day. The role and activities of all relevant authorities are being monitored. What is important is how they execute their responsibilities rather than their number.
NM: You have mentioned that the long-term observers have already been deployed and are active. When will the 300 short-term observers be deployed and in what centers?
JPY: The decision about their number has been taken long time ago when an assessment was being made of whether such a mission was necessary and considering the elections are early we had to act fast. My chief team consists of 12 experts. They arrived here in early May and we also have ten long-term observers in Skopje, Veles, Stip, Strumica, Bitola, Ohrid, Gostivar, Tetovo…
The short-term observers in such a mission are an important part and I hope that they will total about 300, as planned. The OSCE asked all member countries for observers but there are anti-crisis measures everywhere and it is unknown how many people they will send. There may be more or fewer observers, but not by a notable margin.
NM: Have you identified the critical points?
JPY: As I have said, we have come with a blank sheet of paper. We are not looking for difficulties or places for potential confrontations. However, we talked with the relevant authorities and parties as to when, where and how the situation can unfold.
