The Interior Ministry reported that it intervened in dozens of instances across the country, with some of the main irregularities including a chain voting attempt in Bitola, voters caught photographing ballots and several interruptions in the voting.
A ballot stuffing report was made in the village of Laskarci, near Saraj. While turnout in the majority Albanian areas is exceptionally low, this polilng station had a high turnout rate and police was sent out after a political party that is competing for the Albanian vote reported ballot stuffing. The police found nothing irregular in the voting and it resumed shortly.
Voting was also briefly interruped in the village of Lojane near Lipkovo, again after a political party reported that there is a mismatch between the number of citizens who voted and the number of issued ballots. After half an hour it was determined that the numbers match and voting continued. Three parties are competing for the Albanian vote, which is unusual for Macedonia, and this has prompted these accusations between the parties.
A man was arrested in Karpos in Skopje for causing a disturbance after he was not allowed to vote because his identity document had expired. And in Skopje’s Butel district a voter was arrested after photographing his ballot.
There were reports of vote buying in Bitola’s large Roma neighborhood, the Bair. Police is patrolling the area to determine whether voters are paid to show up.
The police report also includes a dozen allegations of groups of men actively promoting their party close to the polling stations in Strumica, Shuto Orizari, Kocani, Kriva Palanka and a number of other cities. Police patrols have been dispatched to check whether parties are campainign on election day, which is not allowed.
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