App Fuels Worries About Macedonia Voters' Roll

Members of the State Election Commission, DIK, say the many inconsistencies in the electoral roll spotted by individuals, the media and political parties since the launch of an app last week will be dealt with before the June 5 early elections.

Bedredin Ibrahimi, a member of the DIK, says there is no cause for panic about the timeframe.

"The app was launched for citizens to have an insight and help clean up the electoral roll? there is no need for drama about it. We will finish our job on time," he said.

"The principle is simple, only those [voters] who meet the conditions will stay on the list," Ibrahimi added.

The web app launched by the DIK allows people to check how many voters are listed at their own address and at other addresses.

It has revealed what appear to be widespread inconsistencies on the electoral roll.

Users have reported many cases of dozens of people being listed at same addresses, which are not known to house any of those people.

The discoveries have added to longstanding fear that the voters' roll is full of fictive voters, used in the past to tip election results to the advantage of the government parties.

"One address in Skopje contains 35 voters. Another holds 15 people that are listed as voters in two different polling stations; 35 voters are listed at addresses of public institutions," the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, said on Tuesday.

The main ruling VMRO DPMNE party of Nikola Gruevski, which was widely accused in the past of election rigging and whose former ministers are now suspects in an election-rigging case launched by the Special Prosecution, accused the SDSM of seeking an alibi for losing the next election.

"The despair and panic in the SDSM...