Legislation

(Unofficial translation into English)¹

(Excerpts)²

July 2004

Pursuant to Article 76 of the Law on Amending and Supplementing the Law on Local Elections (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no.35/2004), the Legislative Committee of the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia, at its session held on June 25, 2004, determined the integrated text of the Law on Local Elections.

The integrated text of the Law on Local Elections incorporates: the Law on Local Elections (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no.46/96), the Law on Amending and Supplementing the Law on Local Elections (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no. 12/2003), and the Law on Amending and Supplementing the Law on Local Elections (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no. 35/2004), which contain an indication of the time these laws enter into force, Correction to the Law on Law on Local Elections (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no. 48/96), Correction to the Law on Law on Local Elections (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no. 56/96), Correction to the Law on Amending and Supplementing the Law on Local Elections (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no. 42/2004), the Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Macedonia (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no. 17/97), Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Macedonia (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no. 31/2002), as well as Article 18 of the Law on Polling Stations (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no. 50/97).

No. 10-2567/2

June 25, 2004

Skopje

President of the Legislative Committee of the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia, Cvetanka Ivanova

LAW ON LOCAL ELECTIONS

(Integrated text)

I. BASIC PROVISIONS

Article 1

This Law stipulates the procedure and the conditions for election of members of the councils in the units of local self-government (hereinafter: municipalities), the Council of the City of Skopje, and the election of mayors of municipalities and a mayor of the City of Skopje.

[...]

III. BODIES FOR CONDUCT OF THE ELECTIONS

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Article 16

[...]

The forms of the minutes in the local self-government units where at least 20 percent of the citizens speak an official language different from Macedonian, shall be printed in addition to Macedonian and its Cyrillic alphabet, also in the official language and alphabet spoken by at least 20 percent of the citizens in the pertinent local self-government unit.

[...]

Article 19

[...]

During the work of the Election Commissions and Electoral Boards in the local self-government units where at least 20 percent of the citizens speak an official language different from Macedonian, in addition to the Macedonian language and its Cyrillic alphabet, the language and the alphabet spoken by at least 20 percent of the citizens in the pertinent local self-government unit shall also be in official use.

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IV. PROPOSING CANDIDATES FOR COUNCIL MEMBERS AND MAYOR

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Article 25

The list submitter may submit only one list of candidates for council members, as well as one list of candidate for mayor.

In the local self-government units where 20 percent of the citizens speak an official language different from Macedonian, the list submitter, referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, shall submit the list of candidates and/or list of candidate for mayor in the official language and alphabet used by the citizens in the pertinent local self-government unit.

[...]

Article 31

[...]

In the local self-government units, where 20 percent of the citizens speak an official language different from Macedonian, the posting of the list of candidates and/or the list of candidate for mayor shall be done in addition to the Macedonian language and its Cyrillic alphabet, also in the official language and alphabet used by the citizens in the pertinent local self-government unit.

[...]

VI. CONDUCTING ELECTIONS

Article 50

The conduct of the elections for council members and mayor shall be done through public announcement to the citizens, i.e. by displaying posters on visible places by the Election Commissions.

The public announcement i.e., the posters for notifying the citizens for the conduct of the elections in the local self-government unit in which at least 20 percent of the citizens speak an official language different from Macedonian, shall be prepared and posted in Macedonian and its Cyrillic alphabet and in the official language and alphabet used by the citizens in the pertinent local self-government unit.

[...]

1. Ballot and Voting

Article 54

The ballot for election of council members shall contain:

[...]

The ballot shall be printed in the Macedonian language and its Cyrillic alphabet.

For the local self-government unit in which 20 percent of the citizens speak an official language different from Macedonian, in addition to the Macedonian language and its Cyrillic alphabet, the ballot shall also be printed in the official language and alphabet used by the citizens in the pertinent local self government unit.

In the City of Skopje, as a separate unit of the local self-government, if paragraph 12 of this Article cannot be applied for election of council members and a mayor of the City of Skopje, then on the ballot the name of the list submitter, name and surname of the list carrier, as well as the name and surname of the candidate for mayor shall be printed in Macedonian and its Cyrillic alphabet, as well as in the language and alphabet of the community to which they belong.

The voting instructions shall not be part of the ballot.

The instructions shall be posted in a noticeable place on the voting screen and in other noticeable places of the polling stations, in accordance with the Instruction issued by the State Election Commission. The instructions shall be printed in the Macedonian language and its Cyrillic alphabet and in the languages and alphabets of the other communities listed in the Preamble of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia.

The candidate lists shall be posted in the voting room.

Source: Mercator, Bulletin No. 60, IV Quarter 2004, http://www.ciemen.org/mercator/index-gb.htm

¹ Unofficial translation by: IFES Macedonia according to the law published in official gazette no. 45/2004, Republic of Macedonia.

² Full text available at: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UNTC/UNPAN017744.pdf

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