MACEDONIAN POLICE PLEDGES ELECTION VIGILANCE
National.
Macedonia’s police has prepared a special plan for securing the safety and ensuring a calm atmosphere ahead of Sunday’s presidential and local elections dubbed "Elections 2009".
Presenting the plan to the public on Wednesday, Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska noted that the police will not tolerate any misdeeds on election day.
“We will do everything in our power in line with the law and police authority to enable the citizens to vote peacefully and without pressures,” she told media.
Minister Jankuloska announced that security would be heightened at places where incidents have taken place in the past.
June last year the violence and fraud that happened in the ethnic Albanian populated areas during the general election sparked much criticism from the west. The EU, USA and NATO officials have set the democratic conduct of these elections as a test for Macedonia’s democratic credibility.
Jankulovska notes that election incidents and suspects, who would be arrested on spot, were set to be probed and sanctioned urgently.
But some local think tanks and NGO’s are worried that the state has not done enough to prevent irregularities from happening again. They point to the small number of cases that were resolved from the last election.
Jankuloska reminded the political parties that they bore the ultimate responsibility for peaceful and democratic elections.
On Sunday Macedonia elects head of state and 84 municipality mayors.
[Binsight]
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