North Macedonia - Politics and Society

Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, the candidate of the right-wing opposition VMRO DPMNE party, soundly beat ruling party-backed incumbent Stevo Pendarovski in the first round of North Macedonia’s presidential elections.

As a number of Western Balkan countries join the global trend toward authoritarianism, human rights are suffering, the latest Amnesty International report warns.

Voting has started in the country’s seventh presidential election since independence – one that may inform the outcome of the more high-stakes general election due in two weeks’ time.

Romanian politicians mull social media restrictions; Turkey, Croatia, and other countries face surges in digital rights violations ahead of elections, while the rest of the region is shaken by misinformation on a missing girl in Serbia and phishing attempts.

The right-wing party tipped to win the elections wants to scrap the mechanism imposing quotas of ethnic minority employees in the public sector has been abused – but achieving this will be a challenge.

Without any notice or explanation, the big parties have pushed through a rule change that makes it far harder for independent and non-party candidates to compete in elections.

Police in North Macedonia grapple with the growing scourge of dangerous driving for social media ‘likes’.

From canceled marriage proposals to missed job opportunities, big delays in issuing new personal travel documents in North Macedonia are causing people no end of trouble.

From an ambitious start and big plans to weak implementation and evasion, the record of the country’s Social Democrat-led governments in improving institutional transparency is disappointing.

Authorities in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and North Macedonia are failing in the fight against illegal landfills; the environment and the public are paying the price.