With the aim of implementing the international election standards, as well as the recommendations of the Venice Commission for continuous training of election administration and other stakeholders involved in election process, a ,, Feasibility Study and Roadmap for establishment of a Electoral Training Center” was conducted.
Feasibility study is usually made when you want to create a body, or a new institution, or to improve existing institutions. The State Election Commission, and other bodies, such as representatives of Municipal Election Commissions, as well as representatives of political parties, civil sector and the media – are involved in the process to identify their special needs, thus making the process inclusive and transparent for all participants in the election process. The good news is that a lot of work has already been established here in North Macedonia, such that there is a training system, there are programs and pool of trainers, in the field of citizen and voter education, says the Team Lead responsible for the preparation of the study, Pavel Cabacenco.
According to him, North Macedonia is ready to take the next step in the direction of improving to and institutionalizing training, and preparations for that should begin immediately.
Considering that we have been involved in this process for a long time, I can say this is of exceptional importance because certain specific activities are already starting. If we succeed on this, it will mean historic success, since it has not existed until now, and this is an important segment to raise democracy level in the country in general, said State Election Commission President Aleksandar Dastevski.
The vision of the State Election Commission and its long-term strategy is to establish a Training Center that will exist within the structure of the State Election Commission, while it will have more focused efforts on providing education for all stakeholders in elections, not only for electoral bodies as until now, emphasizes, Ljupka Guguchevska Filiposka, the Head of Department for continuous training at the State Election Commission.
She added that the uniqueness of the State Election Commission as an institution is the target group that shall be educated. It’s not just all citizens of legal age, not only voters, literally all citizens of this country – and those who are in the schools, so that we have results in the long term, respectively to raise awareness and knowledge about democracy and elections, with education must to start very early.
– We hope that this study, together with the ongoing discussions on this topic, will contribute to finding sustainable solutions for improved election education, as well as that they will help in strengthening the work of the election administration, not only in organizing elections, but also fighting and ensuring good services for voters and other election stakeholders. These efforts aim to advance electoral reforms, while increasing transparency, integrity and overall trust in electoral processes. – pointed out Ioana Cosma, IFES’ Country Director for North Macedonia.
This study is developed in the frames of the “Support to Electoral Reforms” project of the Government of Switzerland, which is implemented by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). The project aims at inclusive and more democratic election processes led by strengthened election organizations, which are closely monitored by citizens.
