Home > 2.4 Complaints and appeals > THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA - Joint Opinion on the Electoral Code as Amended on 9 November 2015
 
 
 
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Paragraph 58
 

Although the amendments include provisions to increase transparency by requiring public hearings when administrative bodies hear election complaints, there is no corresponding requirement for the Administrative Court to hold public hearings on election-related cases. The Code only provides that its decisions should be published on the website within 24 hours and specify how each judge voted in the case. The lack of guaranteed public hearings by the Administrative Court is contrary to OSCE commitments and other international standards and reduces public confidence in the process. The Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR therefore recommend reviewing the Code to ensure that hearings on election-related cases be held in public unless the court specifically finds that there is an exception in the law to hold a particular hearing in private.