Joint Opinion on the Electoral Code of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as revised on 29 October 2008

The present opinion was elaborated following resolution 1320 (2003) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which invites the Venice Commission to formulate opinions concerning possible improvements to legislation and practices in particular member States or applicant countries. The recent amendments include changes in the voter turnout requirement for presidential elections, out-of-country voting, voter registration, campaign finance and the complaints and appeals process. Some of the amendments are based on a draft working text amending the electoral code, which was reviewed by the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR in 2007 (CDL-AD(2007)012). This current review should be read together with this document and other relevant Joint Opinions (see par. 4). Many comments in previous texts have been taken into account, although others remain to be addressed. Not all are included in this document.