Not one member of the Macedonian diaspora has registered for the collection of signatures needed to become an independent candidate for a seat in the Macedonian Assembly, the State Election Commission has said, Telegraf.mk reads.
Although a ten-day time period was set for those willing to nominate for MPs to fill out the necessary forms, nobody has started the procedure despite the several interested citizens.
Ico Najdovski, one of the most prominent Macedonians who lives in Australia, says there are many reasons why independent candidates do not succeed in filing nominations, but the key one is the short time period, as well as the 1,000 signatures threshold.
"The registration ends on May 9 and that's a very short period for an independent candidate. There's no interest for an independent candidate because the person needs to gather 1,000 signatures and to register at the embassy in Canberra or the consulate in Melbourne. That's impossible even if they have a longer period of 2 to 3 months, and not around ten days only. The law has been passed to enable only party members to candidate, and not the diaspora representatives," Najdovski explained.
He is revolted by the fact that the deposits of signatures take place in churches, pastry shops and other kinds of stores besides the official diplomatic representatives.
In order for the Macedonian immigrants to be able to vote, they need to own a valid Macedonian passport or an ID card, a document that proves their legal stay in the country where they had moved out as well as an application for casting ballots at the nearest consulate or embassy and a demand to be included in the electoral roll.
According to expectations, around 20,000 voters from the diaspora are expected to take part in the June 5 elections.
At the last parliamentary elections in 2014, the total of 1,845 voters have cast ballots in the election unit in North America; 982 in Australia, while the figure was the highest in Europe - 8,614. In average, 55% of the registered diaspora voters take part in the elections.
With the latest changes to the Election Code, the diaspora MPs will be elected in line with a proportional model in one election unit. The necessary minimum of votes for a member of the diaspora to be elected a lawmaker is 6,400. It means the diaspora can be represented by three MPs maximum, or it can be left without a representative.