The State Elections Commission discriminated directly against persons who turned 18 between the two rounds of the 2019 presidential elections on the ground of age. The Commission for Prevention and Protection Against Discrimination also established the existence of indirect discrimination in the same case, caused to persons who turned 18 between the two rounds of the presidential elections, and were not registered in the List of Voters.
The complaint against the State Elections Commission was filed by the Institute for Legal and Political Research in July 2019, stating that persons who turned 18 between the two rounds of the 2019 presidential election were discriminated against on the basis of age and were prevented from voting and fulfilling their right to vote, guaranteed by the Constitution of Republic of North Macedonia.
The CPPD contacted the State Elections Commission for a statement regarding this complaint, and they replied that these persons were not included in the List of voters due to the fact that the List was closed for interventions before the first round of elections and could not be changed until the end of the elections. As an argument for this claim, they use the fact that changing the total number of voters between the two rounds would violate the required census that is necessary for certain elections to be successful.
After reviewing all the arguments, the Commission for Prevention and Protection Against Discrimination concluded that the State Elections Commission committed direct age discrimination towards a large group of citizens who turned 18 between the two rounds of the 2019 presidential elections, thus depriving them of their constitutional right to vote in elections and violated the principle of equal treatment in exercising the right to vote, guaranteed by the Constitution and the law.
Additionally, by not providing protection and guarantee of the constitutional right to vote to all citizens who have reached 18 years of age, they attributed to indirect discrimination against 1218 persons, citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia, who became adults in the period between April 21, 2019, and May 5, 2019.
The CPPD obliges the State Elections Commission in the future to prevent any possible unequal treatment, ie discrimination of persons who turn 18 after the day of the first round of presidential or local elections, or after the election day of parliamentary elections in which re-runs at certain polling stations are conducted and to enable the exercise of their right to vote guaranteed with the Constitution of North Macedonia.