Macedonia's 2003 Elections
by George Huff
Introduction
I was one of some 800 international monitors to observe the parliamentary elections in the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Macedonia or FYROM) held on September 15, 2002.
(1This mission was my fourth secondment by the U.S. Department of State to the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the Balkans. My earlier OSCE
assignments were supervision of the first municipal elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Vitez) held on
September 13-14, 1997; supervision of the second national elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Visoko) on
September 12-13, 1998; and supervision of the first democratic elections in Kosovo (Urosevac) on
October 28, 2000.) Annex C of the Ohrid Framework Agreement specified that international monitors
including those from the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) were invited to
observe these elections. Since the 1990 breakup of communist Yugoslavia, the development
in Macedonia of a multi-party political system, and the international community's recognition of
Macedonia's independence from Belgrade in 1991, OSCE's Spillover Mission to FYROM has operated
continuously from Macedonia's capital city, Skopie, with a mandate that includes the monitoring of
elections. This year's elections represented another step in Macedonia's transition from communism to
democracy and from religious and ethnic segregation to integration.
Macedonia's Situation and Neighbors
Macedonia is located north of Greece and is slightly larger than Vermont with an estimated
population of more than two million. FYROM's other neighbors are Bulgaria which annexed Macedonia
during World War II; Kosovo, technically a part of Serbia but now governed by the United Nations (UNMIK,
or United Nations Mission to Kosovo) but regarded by many Serbs as "southern Serbia"; and Albania
whose ethnic people in Macedonia comprise a sizable and growing minority. Today's Macedonia is a
name claimed by two adjacent countries, FYROM and Greece; geographically and politically, there are
Slavic and Greek Macedonias. International recognition of Macedonia's independence was delayed by
Greece's objection to the new state's use of what it considered a Hellenic name and symbols. Greece
finally lifted its trade blockade in 1995 and the two countries agreed to normalize relations despite
continued disagreement over FYROM's use of "Macedonia."
Macedonia's Significance
FYROM's neighbors have a stake in its collapse as an independent state. The Balkan Wars (1912,
1913) were fought over this territory. In the interests of regional stability and European Union integration,
it's important to the West, and more particularly to Western Europe that Macedonia survives. Macedonia
is of future strategic importance to Western Europe as a scheduled conduit for Caspian Sea oil. Internally,
Macedonia is rife with unemployment, poverty and corruption, and simply cannot handle its problems
without international assistance. Macedonia faces questions of minority rights and the status of ethnic
Albanians; as mentioned above, FYROM's use of a Hellenic name and symbols and international
recognition; the instability in the former Yugoslavia; and the refugee crises of the Kosovo (1999) and
Albanian (2001) Wars.
Election of Macedonia's Parliament
This year's third parliamentary elections in FYROM were the focus of international attention as a
result of last year's civil violence (the Albanian War) which was particularly severe along Macedonia's
northwestern border with Kosovo between armed ethnic Albanian separatist groups, fighting as the
National Liberation Army ("NLA" or "UCK" in Albanian), and Macedonian government security forces. The
Albanian War caused up to 100,000 people to be displaced in the country or to flee abroad. The ethnic
Albanian municipalities of Tetovo, Gostivar and Kumanovo and the surrounding villages were the conflict
areas. Under intense pressures from the international community, including the European Union and
United States, political and military actions were taken last year to stop the violence and reduce the ethnic
tension.
Survey research conducted prior to this election showed that Macedonians perceived the needs for
governmental, economic and societal changes. Macedonians reported that their top problems were
unemployment, poverty and corruption. In 2002, Balkan media reports underscored these concerns. It
was not surprising too that, in the aftermath of the Albanian War, Macedonians reported fearing war above
all else. The time was ripe for political change and this conclusion proved true at the polls.
Macedonia's political party system is based on ethnicity with little voting across ethnic boundaries.
The ethnic Macedonian party in power, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Democratic
Party for Macedonian Unity (VMRO-DPMNE) was defeated by the previous opposition ethnic Macedonian
party, the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM). This year's upstart ethnic Albanian party, the
National Democratic Party (DUI), defeated the longer-standing ethnic Albanian opposition parties
(represented in the Government since 1998), the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) and the Party for
Democratic Prosperity (PDP).
Ethnic Albanian Minority
In accordance with the Ohrid Framework Agreement ("Ohrid"), a peace accord reached with armed
Albanian groups on August 13, 2001, Macedonians agreed to address the concerns of ethnic Albanians in
Macedonia about participation in the Government, economy and society. Macedonians also accepted
NATO's unpopular military intervention. NATO's Operation "Essential Harvest" oversaw the token
collection of weapons from the NLA in September 2001 and this operation was extended as "Amber Fox"
to support the return to peace. At present in Macedonia, the Netherlands commands and controls NATO
troops under the name "Task Force Fox." Macedonia's growing ethnic Albanian minority (20-22%; 1994
Census) and the de facto independence of neighboring Kosovo, which comprises an
overwhelming, ethnic Albanian majority, continue to be sources of ethnic tension.
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Ohrid contained a set of principals which included constitutional amendments, legislative
modifications, and
implementation and
confidence-buildings
measures. Ohrid was also
designed to affect the legal
basis and administration of the
elections and included
provisions to use as an official
language any language, other
than Macedonian, spoken by at
least 20% of the population
(i.e., the Albanian language); to
hold early elections and invite
international observers
including the OSCE; to take a
new national census by the end
of 2001; to revise of the law on
election districts; adopt new
laws on local self-government
and municipal boundaries; and
expeditiously to return refugees
and internally displaced
persons to the former conflict
areas. Unfortunately,
Parliament had not adopted nor
fully implemented most of these provisions.
OSCE's Spillover Mission to Macedonia
The 2002 elections were central to a political agreement reached this year between leaders of the
principal political parties, two ethnic Macedonian and two ethnic Albanian, as a part of Ohrid. The military
aspect of the conflict was connected to the political side when the two ethnic Albanian parties, the DPA
and PDP adopted a joint platform last summer with the NLA. In August of 2001, the international
community assembled the representatives of the VMRO-DPMNE, SDSM, DPA and PDP in Ohrid where
the agreement was signed. Afterwards, the NLA formed the new ethnic Albanian party, DUI, around the
former NLA leader, Mr. Ali Ahmeti, which would ultimately defeat both the DPA and PDP, primarily
because of their past relationships with VMRO-DPMNE.
Ohrid set forth the political-legal action plan for resolving the tensions between the two main ethnic
communities in FYROM. Among other things, and relating to the new election law, these compromises
included the use of minority languages (in local jurisdictions where 20% or more of the population speaks
Albanian), absentee voting by refugees or displaced persons, women candidates, election districts, the
role of police, and conduct of election officials. Among other things agreed at Ohrid, but not realized this
year, was taking a new census for Macedonia before the elections. Several other things remained
unresolved on election day, such as reliance on judicial appointees, voter lists, absent voters, political
party representatives, and election administration.
As a part of Ohrid, OSCE called for observers to monitor the 2002 elections for Macedonia's third
Parliament. Under a new election law enacted after Ohrid, Macedonians voted in 2,973 polling stations
nationwide. In late July 2002, the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
(OSCE/ODIHR) established a large observation mission to monitor the entire election process before,
during and after election day. This mission augmented OSCE's Spillover Mission to Macedonia.
The observation mission carried out its operations with 19 international experts at the headquarters in
Skopje and 23 long-term observers (LTOs) throughout the country. In addition, more than 750 midterm
(MTOs) and short-term observers (STOs), including 100 short-term volunteers from the United States
were deployed before election day. Of more than 800 international monitors, some 500 were sent to
Skopie and 300 to Ohrid.
Former Conflict Areas
As an OSCE/ODHIR short-term observer, I went to Ohrid, Macedonia, where I was assigned to
monitor voting in Macedonia's Election District 6 which adjoins the republic's northwest borders with
Kosovo and Albania. (See Map Appendix A.). My assignment was observing ten polling stations
northwest of Gostivar, in and around the lowland villages of Dobri Dol and Negotino. These villages were
situated along the road above the main highway lying east of the Vardar river and connecting Gostivar and
Tetovo. West and north of Negotino were the mountain villages of Gorjane, Gurgeviste, Lomnica and
Kaliste, each with a polling station and reachable only by narrow serpentine roads. Lomnica, the
westernmost village, was only 6-8 kilometers from the border with Kosovo. These villages possessed
unsurpassed natural beauty and extraordinary rural poverty and overlooked Negotino's fertile plains. All
were controlled by the NLA and the remaining ethnic Albanians living there, not surprisingly, voted almost
exclusively for ethnic Albanian political parties.
Gostivar's municipality comprised hundreds of polling stations which would be monitored on election
day by 39 STO teams. Fortunately for me, on this observation mission, I was selected to join three
observers sent from OSCE's Presence in Albania. Every other OSCE/ODIHR STO or European Union
STO in western Macedonia was assigned in international pairs, sharing a local driver and an interpreter;
thus, my assignment was a unique one. My team, STO Team 0304, was responsible for reporting on
polling activities at schools or sites in Dobri Dol, Negotino, Gorjane, Gurgeviste, Lomnica and Kaliste.
These villages were on the southern edge of a "former conflict area" and considered to be part of the
NLA's stronghold. For example, at Negotino's village center there stood an enormous statue of an NLA
fighter killed in last year's civil war. On election day, police officers and local young men there showed me
a booklet venerating the life and sacrifice of this fighter, a martyr for the rights of ethnic Albanians.
STO Team 0304
On Wednesday, September 12, 2002, after an exhausting trip from Washington, D.C., to Ohrid,
Macedonia, I arrived in a busload of international monitors at OSCE's assembly area in western
Macedonia, the Deserat Hotel, situated on the shore of Lake Ohrid. I was delighted to return to Ohrid -
one of Europe's oldest continually occupied cities and area of enormous historical significance. I shared a
suite with Richard Abbott, a veteran international election's supervisor and my 1997 partner at Bosnia and
Herzegovina's first municipal elections. The evening was still light and, from our veranda, Albania was
visible on the opposite shore. A moment later, a mild earthquake rattled the open window doors,
reminding us of Macedonia's geological instability.
In the conference rooms the next morning, Mr. Julian Yates (British), Head of OSCE/ODIHR Election
Observation Mission, kicked-off our day's in-country briefings.
That afternoon, Richard Abbott and I enjoyed a pleasant swim in Lake Ohrid. We compared our luck.
Abbott received an assignment to Bitola's municipality, an area of historical significance near Macedonia's
southern border with Greece. We were aware that the Gostivar-Tetovo highway where I was assigned
was the hot spot of Macedonia.
Over a period three weeks prior to election day, there were murders and other incidents in this area
which had received media attention worldwide. One ethnic Albanian police officer was shot dead near
Gostivar, and another shot and killed in the lowland village of Bogovinje on the Tetovo-Gostivar highway
just north of Gorjane. Immediately after the second killing, a suspicious kidnap and release of several
Macedonians on a bus was reported near Bogovinje. The murders and kidnaping, ethnic Albanian
political rallies in western Macedonia, announcements by DUI Party Leader Ali Ahmeti of a planned party
rally in Skopie, and anti-Albanian statements by FYROM's Interior Minister were contributing to the
enormous pressures on Macedonia's Government.
Later at Ohrid, I met my observer team and learned why they had selected me. My team consisted
of Dr. Annette Eisenmann, Ph.D. (German), OSCE Economics and Environmental Officer; Mrs. Eda
Shtepani (Albanian), OSCE Albania; and Driver and Radio Operator, Mr. Drini Karagjozi (Albanian), OSCE
Albania. As an American lawyer from Washington, D.C., and former U.S. Army officer, they believed I
would provide a measure of security and a perception of balance to a team of Albanians. Dr. Eisenmann
explained to me that, earlier this year, Mr. Florian Hobdari (Albanian), a young lawyer, was chosen from
OSCE's Presence in Albania as the LTO for Gostivar. As the only Albanian LTO in Macedonia, Hobdari's
participation as an unbiased international observer in this area was unwelcome to Macedonians. Hobdari
now shared his sensitive position with two internationals, Ms. Stephanie Guha, a Czech, and Ms. Hannah
Roberts, a Briton. Of course, Hobdari added to his position the advantages of legal training, language and
ethnicity. Hobdari's colleagues from OSCE Albania were Albanians, except for Dr. Eisenmann, who
spoke Albanian fluently having been in-country for more than three years.
On Friday morning, as OSCE's chartered buses carried the STOs to their destinations throughout
western Macedonia, Karagjozi drove our Mitsubitshi Pajero 4x4 to OSCE's staging area in Gostivar, the
St. Ignatis Hotel. We were fully equipped with vehicular and portable radios as well as individual cellular
telephones and communicated en route with Tirana. In advance, OSCE had arranged for our
accommodations in the Balkan Hotel in Gostivar. At the St. Ignatis Hotel, located on the highway on the
north edge of Gostivar, NATO's military representative (Dutch), OSCE's community policing specialist,
and others who had been living there for months told us the local situation.
NATO and OSCE security officers regarded the villages south of Tetovo where we would be
observing as "cleared" or "low risk" areas. My assignment would be Gostivar's West Region, including
Negotino. We met Lieutenant "Max" (Italian) and his three-man military team whose armored vehicle
would directly support our team's mission. We discussed radio and telephone communications and
provided him our tentative itinerary for election day. My young interpreter, Agron Vojnika (ethnic
Albanian), Editor, Fakti, (one of Macedonia's two Albanian language daily newspapers), Skopie,
joined us - wearing a bulletproof vest. Vojnika's family lived south of Gostivar in Debar on the border with
Albania, and his brother attended high school in Gostivar.
Reconnaissance
On Saturday morning, STO Team 0304 set out on our reconnaissance taking the smaller roads west
of the Tetovo-Gostivar highway, driving north from village to village, stopping to walk around each polling
station, and talking with the people there. Thus, we familiarized ourselves with these western parts of
Gostivar's and Negotino's municipalities. The weather was clear, dry and comfortable and, of course,
cooler in the mountain villages. The villages we saw had a mosque and one or two had an Eastern
Orthodox church. Driving through Vrap ista, a Turkish village, tobacco was hanging in strings across the
walls and donkey saddles were being made from timber and leather.
In Dobri Dol, after asking some questions in the village square, we were directed to the school where
voting for this community would take place in four of its classrooms. One man identified himself as a
prison warden; NATO told us later that he was a former NLA leader. By the schoolyard, painted graffiti
said, "Albanian Vote Albanian." In Negotino, we located the village center and, as we were leaving, met
members of the municipal election commission arriving with materials to distribute to the electoral boards.
(For this election, each polling station's electoral board would comprise a president, four members and
their deputies.). They directed us to the school nearby that would be used for voting. One of this school's
popular teachers was an American Peace Corps volunteer.
The mountain villages could be reached by narrow serpentine roads using our 4x4; vehicular traffic
on these roads could be visible easily from miles away. The villages of Kaliste, Lomnica, Gurgeviste and
Gorjane each had a single polling station and approximately 120-135 families, except for Gorjane with 11
families. Electric power lines connected them to the valley but the spring water was drawn from common
troughs. The villagers were very young or old and the others had left them for better lives elsewhere.
Some mountainside brick houses vaguely resembled medieval fortresses with feedlots alongside. In the
Winter, snowfalls often isolated these handmade villages from the lowland communities.
As we were leaving tiny Gorjane, I was thinking that I'd time-traveled back to the 12th
century. On the road, two men with farming equipment had stopped to allow us to pass and Karagjozi
greeted them in Albanian. In a moment, one said to me in good English, "I'm from Detroit." I listened to
him for a brief minute; he'd worked in the factory, saved his money and come home. We left; returning to
Gostivar via the
Tetovo-Gostivar highway which was occupied at intervals by Macedonian security forces. Traffic was light
and, at a checkpoint, a policeman asked us if we'd seen anyone on the highway's overpasses.
Election Day
Our aims for Sunday's election day were to meet each of the members of the ten electoral boards
and monitor their activities; provide our initial written reports to the LTO at mid-day; monitor an opening
and a closing of two different polling stations;
after closing, accompany the ballot box from the polling station to the Regional Election Commission in
Gostivar; and provide our final written reports to the LTO at day's end. For the day's itinerary, we would
open at Dobri Dol and then visit each of the four mountain villages, in turn, by mid-day. After returning to
the St. Ignatis Hotel via the highway to turn in our written reports for the morning, we would drive back to
Negotino to meet the three electoral boards at the village school and monitor those polling stations. We
would communicate with Lieutenant "Max" and LTO Florian by radio and telephones. We would retain the
flexibility to adjust our itinerary to changing situations and choose the polling station to close based on our
observations during the day.
We were aware that the ballot contest was between the ethnic Albanian parties. The "political"
activities around the school at Dobri Dol immediately became problematic. This school contained four
polling stations and we arrived before dawn. We met one of the electoral boards and observed that the
opening procedures were generally followed. However, as the voting began there, Vojnika alerted me to
activity outside this classroom. Inside the school's main entrance, at a desk in the window, a man with a
list of people's names was noting who was coming to vote. He was communicating with others outside
the school across the street. With Vojnika's help, I identified myself to him and asked his role in the
election. He replied to Vojnika, "I'm a social worker," but hastily gathered his papers and abruptly left the
school. NATO knew his identity too.
During election day, after making relatively uneventful visits to the polling stations in the four
mountain villages and to Negotino, we all agreed on the necessity of monitoring the closing of the polling
station in Dobri Dol. In the evening, crowds were gathering around this school and the tension was
palpable. Inside the polling station, the accredited political observers and the electoral board members
were handling calls on their cell phones. The ballot count was proceeding smoothly until it became clear
that the votes for the ethnic Albanian DUI party would overcome those for the ethnic Albanian DPA party.
At that moment, and after some cell phone conversations, the DPA's board members walked out of this
polling station leaving the closing procedures incomplete and papers unsigned. The DPA's electoral
board members also walked out of the stations in the adjacent classrooms, and the remaining electoral
board members there asked us to monitor their closing procedures too.
We learned later from LTO Hobdari that these walkouts were being repeated in polling stations
around the municipality. At some stations, the DPA party's electoral board members reported receiving
death threats and, at one station, an NATO team was ordered to extract the STO team. (The American
STO there later explained to me a similar scenario occurred inside his polling station.). Listening to radio
and telephone traffic, Lieutenant "Max" and his team moved to a position closer to Dobri Dol's school.
LTO Hanna Roberts asked me to split our team and monitor the closing of a second station in the school.
Vojinka and I did this. In the first station, Dr. Eisenmann and
Ms. Shtepani were able somehow to persuade the DPA's party board members to return and complete the
closing papers. This was not possible in the second station.
Outside the school in the darkness, crowds were pressing around the windows. Inside we heard and
saw angry confrontations in the hallways. Since DPA's board members had walked out, we learned that
there was no transportation for moving the ballot boxes from Dobri Dol to the Regional Election
Commission in Gostivar. After some lengthy discussions and arrangements, Karagjozi wheeled our
vehicle into a makeshift convoy of a local police car and taxis. Our convoy transported the four ballot
boxes to Gostivar. There, outside the municipal building, we joined a long queue of electoral board
members and STOs to watch the sign over to the commissioners of the sensitive election materials. As
we waited, nearing midnight, Macedonia's preliminary election results were being transmitted across the
republic and around the world.
Outside Gostivar's municipal building, men with guns began firing shots into the darkness, a typical
Albanian expression of joyfulness. Ethnic Albanians were driving through the grid-locked streets
continuously honking their horns. The sidewalks were thronged with excited ethnic Albanians. From the
passing cars, smiling people waived Albanian flags and added their voices to the frenzied chanting, "Ali
Ahmeti, Ali Ahmeti, Ali Ahmeti . . . " The upstart DUI party won and the VMRO-DPMNE party lost control.
As we drove through Gostivar's square, where the ecstatic celebrants were overflowing the sidewalks into
the streets, we were surprised to receive a spontaneous cheer for OSCE. Our job was nearly complete
and Karagjozi was driving us back to the St. Ignatis Hotel to turn in our final written reports. Overnight
OSCE's statistician would consolidate ours with all the observations of Macedonia's polling stations to
support the preparation of an OSCE/ODHIR's press statement. What a spectacle!
Aftermath
Before dawn, on Monday, I had paid Vojnika for his interpretation services and Karagjozi was driving
us back to Ohrid for our midmorning briefings in the
Deserat Hotel's conference room. By the time I reached Ohrid, Richard Abbott had already returned from
Bitola and checked in, and other STOs were arriving. There we gathered and critiqued the election,
especially in Macedonia's Election District 6, and ultimately reviewed and approved a version of OSCE's
draft press statement on this election. That business finished, we returned OSEC's radio sets and the
afternoon was ours free to enjoy. With the assistance of a young Macedonian college student majoring in
architecture, Abbott and I treated ourselves to a walking tour of historic Ohrid, followed that evening by a
delicious dinner of Lake Ohrid trout with the vin du pays.
As a very welcome bonus, OSCE's charter flight schedule from Ohrid, Macedonia, gave Richard
Abbott and me a layover of nearly twenty-four hours in Vienna, Austria. His former home was Grinzing, a
Vienna suburb. On Tuesday, we happily spent the afternoon sightseeing in Vienna where September's
weather was nearly perfect. We explored Vienna's colossal palace and spectacular cathedral as well as
the city's exquisite parks, cafes and shops. We stopped at OSCE's future headquarters. That evening,
after a vigorous hike through the woods and vineyards around Grinzing, including stopping to photograph
Abbott's former home, we dined at a traditional "Heurigen" inn. Vienna is a wine-growing region and its
traditional Heurigen inns were launched by Emperor
Josef II, who decreed that vintner families could sell homemade meals with their wines. Today's
Heurigens offer courtyard tables shaded by old trees, hearty fare (roasts, grilled chicken, homemade
sausages, pickles and cheeses) and refreshing, quaffable white wines made to be consumed young.
Conclusion: Responsibility of Europeans
The United States is the world's superpower and global cop; it's been quipped too that today's
Europe is a superplace but not a superpower. As the superpower, the
United States has successfully asserted its leadership in the Balkans. Nevertheless, the European Union
is unmistakably taking greater responsibility for the Balkans. European policy is now achieving success in
the Balkans. The 2002 parliamentary election in Macedonia is an example of that success. In my
judgment, stabilizing and reconstructing the Balkans is the responsibility and work of Europeans.
Americans may thank NATO's Secretary General George Robertson and European Union's Javier Solana
and Chris Patten for the fact the world doesn't have a crisis in Macedonia as well as Iraq.
2002, Foreign Area Officer Association
Springfield, Virginia
Maintained by LTC Steve
Gotowicki.
http://www.faoa.org