FINAL REPORT 
ON USAID’s PARLIAMENTARY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM 
EVALUATION 
Section I: INTRODUCTION – EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
The Republic of Macedonia is a democratic state. Its democratic character is 
guaranteed by its Constitution (1991). The citizens of the Republic of 
Macedonia exercise their power through democratically elected 
representatives, on referendum and through other forms of direct democracy. 
The democratic character of the state is also translated into constitutional 
guarantees for a large number of political, economic, social and other human 
and citizens’ rights, in the political pluralism and free direct and democratic 
elections, in the division of the legislative, executive and judicial powers, in the 
rule of law, the local government etc. 
In the first years following the independence, in practice the Republic of 
Macedonia experienced relatively low level of democracy manifested by lack 
of communication between the citizens and their elected representatives; civil 
society not strong enough to make significant influence in the decision-making 
processes at national and local levels; elections usually shadowed by 
electoral irregularities. At national level, the executive power dominated over 
the legislative Assembly which, could rarely modify any proposed law by the 
Government and had no power in practice to oversee implementation of laws 
by the Government. The Government also tended to exercise influence over 
the judicial power in the areas of its interests. The legislative and executive 
powers had low representation of women. 
Over the past eight years, major changes have taken place in the political 
system of the Republic of Macedonia that has significantly improved the 
democratic capacities of the country. The Parliament has significantly 
improved its capacities by legislative changes introducing three readings of 
laws that have brought about opportunities for critical reviews of laws 
proposed by the Government. The introduction of the oversight function has 
become means that might hold the executive power accountable for the 
activities implemented in a given area. All these changes are an assumption 
for diminishing of the imbalance between the executive and legislative power 
with a tendency this process to be intensified in the ensuing period. The 
representation of citizens has also been improved in this period and a 
permanent channel of communication between the citizens and legislators 
has been established through the constituency offices. The citizens have thus 
been given the opportunity to voice their needs, give testimonies to their 
problems before the legislators and demand resolution. Some citizens have 
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also requested legislative changes. Among the novelties are the public 
hearings as a tool for the citizens to advance their views and proposals 
relevant for adoption of laws. The representation of women in the national 
Parliament has also increased to reach a tune of over 30%. 
In addition to the legislative changes, the political capacity of the Assembly 
was strengthened by training interns who assisted the representatives in 
performing their tasks as well as training MPs. The contribution of NDI in 
improvement of the overall political system functioning lies in enhancement of 
political parties’ capacity by training their activists and the tendency to 
increase the elections’ regularity by changing the political behavior of the 
parties during the electoral period through promoting Code for Fair and Free 
Elections and implementing it generating a political climate the political 
parties’ leaders to sign it and care about its implementation in practice. 
NDI, financially and programmatically assisted by USAID, achieved great 
success in its projects. The success can be attributed to several factors, first 
of all, the carefully selected project areas and projects that were highly 
relevant for the intended changes in the political system of RM, which were 
mentioned before. The success of NDI’s projects can also be attributed to 
proper selection of activities and commensurate means for their achievement. 
Namely, the objectives were achieved through various activities ranging from 
training delivery to various target groups including legislators and assistants in 
the constituency offices, to preparation of manuals, reforms in the legislation 
and other regulatory texts; transformations in the political practice, particularly 
the electoral behavior of the political parties. The success can also be 
credited to the appropriate technical and professional staff who worked on 
achievement of the goals. The allocation of sufficient financial resources 
towards achievement of the goals is another factor of success. The 
accomplishments of NDI are also linked with factors such as effective internal 
organization, high level of commitment for achievement of the goals, and 
flexibility, i.e. readiness to adapt the interventions to the prevailing 
circumstances in order to reach the goals. NDI made serious attempts to 
provide a sustainability of its achievements by establishing legacy non￾governmental organizations, MOST and IPD, and strengthening their 
professional capacity. 
Finally, the overall analysis has not indicated existence of any substantial 
deficiencies in the program design and implementation nor has it pointed to 
any alternative paths that NDI should have taken in the first place. 
The evaluation has shown that all thematic areas and the related project 
activities are very important (Strengthening Constituent Relations, Legislative 
Practice, etc.) and they should continue in the future. This is particularly 
significant given the fact that on one hand, the capacity-building exercise is a 
long-term process; while on the other hand, the Parliament has been 
undergoing significant changes in the composition of legislators in every 
electoral period. In terms of the project Constituency Offices, NDI, together 
with IPD, should continue cooperating with the Parliament beyond 2012. In 
that context, a new project should be designed for raising the awareness of 
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the citizens for participation in the political processes, which may further 
contribute towards creation or development of politically proactive and 
participatory political culture. The project may also tap on the potentials for 
public promotion of ideas and views via the mass media channels, as well as 
through specialized trainings with citizens. 
Section II: THE STATE OF DEMOCRACY AND THE LEGISLATURE 
The Republic of Macedonia is a democratic state. Its democratic character is 
guaranteed by its Constitution (1991) which proclaims the democratic 
character of the state and details it out in the specific provisions. According to 
the Constitution, the sovereignty of the Republic of Macedonia stems from 
and belongs to the citizens. The citizens of the Republic of Macedonia 
exercise their power through democratically elected representatives, on 
referendum and through other forms of direct democracy. The democratic 
character of the state is also translated into constitutional guarantees for a 
large number of political, economic, social and other human and citizens’ 
rights, in the political pluralism and free direct and democratic elections, in the 
division of the legislative, executive and judicial powers, in the rule of law, the 
local self-government etc. 
In the transition period, the relation between the state bodies was outlined in 
the Constitution. The Parliament was bearer of the legislative function, it was 
responsible for passing laws and it also held the representative function on 
the grounds of being elected by the citizens to represent their interests. The 
Parliament‘s competences vis-à-vis the Government were pertaining the 
former to appoint and dissolve the Government and control over the inquiry 
communications and question to Ministers. The executive power was divided 
between the President and the Government, although the Government 
enjoyed much more powers compared to the President. The third power was 
the judicial power. In terms of elections, there were special laws regulating the 
election of legislators initially elected based on the majority electoral model 
which was later changed to proportional electoral model. The participation of 
women in the elections was not specifically regulated. 
 In the first years following the independence, in practice the Republic of 
Macedonia experienced relatively low level of democracy. The communication 
between the citizens and their elected representatives (in the legislative or 
representative body both at the central and local levels) was reduced to the 
period of elections only. Between two electoral cycles, legislators seemed 
reluctant to attempt to establish communication with the people and 
consequently were unable to represent their specific interests. At the time, the 
civil society was also not strong enough to make significant influence in the 
decision-making processes at national and local levels. The elections were 
usually shadowed by electoral irregularities; some political parties boycotted 
the work of the Parliament and other state organs. At national level, the 
executive power dominated over the legislative Assembly which, for its part, 
could rarely modify any proposed law by the Government and had no power 
to oversee implementation of laws by the Government. The Government also 
tended to exercise influence over the judicial power in the areas of its 
4
interests. The legislative and executive powers had low representation of 
women. 
Over the past eight years, major changes have taken place in the political 
system of the Republic of Macedonia that has significantly improved the 
democratic capacities of the country. The Parliament has significantly 
improved its capacities and strengthened its political will to be more 
independent vis-à-vis the Government and the other political entities in the 
country. The reforms of the Parliament have included more focused work of 
the Parliamentary commissions facilitated with the introduction of the rule of 
three readings of laws. These changes have brought about opportunities for 
critical reviews of laws proposed by the Government and have led to an 
increased number of amendments and proposed laws resulting from requests 
and knowledge obtained from the constituency offices introduced in 2003. The 
introduction of the oversight function has become means that might hold the 
executive power accountable for the activities implemented in a given area. 
All of these changes are an assumption for diminishing the imbalance 
between the executive and legislative power. The representation of citizens 
has also been improved in this period and a permanent channel of 
communication between the citizens and legislators has been established 
through the constituency offices. The citizens have thus been given the 
opportunity to voice their needs, give testimonies to their problems before the 
legislators and demand resolution. Some citizens have also requested 
legislative changes. Among the novelties are the public hearings as a tool for 
the citizens to advance their views and proposals relevant for adoption of 
laws. The representation of women in the national Parliament has also 
increased to reach a tune of over 30%. 
The legislation pertaining to the political system has undergone major 
changes over the past several years. In 2006, changes to the Election Law 
were enacted to allow for better representation of women candidates in the 
candidates’ lists of political parties. In 2008, the Rules of Procedure were 
amended, introducing three reading in procedure of passing laws while in 
2009 the Law on Parliament was passed and it also provided for introduction 
of a budget for the Parliament; public and oversight hearings, establishment of 
constituency offices etc. All of these reforms, as mentioned before, have 
contributed to improved democratic capacities of the Republic of Macedonia. 
Section III DETAILED DESCRIPTION – EVALUATION OF THE 
LEGISLATIVE PROJECT 
STRENGTHENING CONSTITUENT RELATIONS 
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This programmatic activity consisted of two projects, which will be analyzed 
below. 
Constituency Offices 
The Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia defines its form of government 
as “representative democracy” where the Assembly is the representative body 
for the people and holds the legislative power in the country. This means that 
the Members of Parliament are elected by the citizens and are charged with 
the responsibility of acting in the people's interest. The regular parliamentary 
elections for MPs are held in four-year intervals. 
Notwithstanding the legislative provisions, the transition period in Macedonia 
saw a practice of loose relationship between the legislators and their 
constituency; this relationship was reduced to mutual communication in the 
period immediately preceding elections and during actual elections. In the 
mean time, the absence of any communication between citizens and their 
elected representatives in the Assembly of RM seem to have been a 
prevailing phenomenon. Evidently, this lack of communication led to a large 
number of MPs being unfamiliar with the real problems of the people. The 
MPs therefore tended to be unaware and undetermined to resolve the 
pressing issues, even at the level of adoption of laws. 
In 2003, In light of these circumstances and with the aim to create 
communication channels between the MPs and the citizens, NDI helped the 
Assembly establish constituency offices. In the constituency offices, the MPs, 
who were the main bearers of activities, had assistants who worked five hours 
a day, five days a week and received stipend for their work by NDI. The MPs 
and their assistants received training about the operation of the constituency 
offices. The citizens were informed of the establishment of the constituency 
offices through the media. 
In order to obtain information on the circumstances under which the 
constituency offices operated, interviews were conducted with some of the 
MPs who were among those engaged in the constituency offices. The first 
question posed to the respondents was related to the efficiency of operation 
of the constituency offices primarily in terms of whether the technical 
equipment (computer, printer, telephone etc) was adequate to the operational 
needs of the office. All respondents confirmed that the equipment was 
adequate to meet the needs of the offices. 
The second question to the respondents pertained to the competence of the 
assistants hired to help out in the constituency offices, i.e. whether the 
assistants possessed best-suited qualifications to work in the offices and to 
what extent the assistants performed their tasks in a quality manner. The 
following responses were received: 
The MPs believed that the selection of assistants had been made according 
to sound and tested criteria by NDI and they said that the most adequate 
persons were selected for the job. In terms of how competent the assistants 
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were to perform their tasks, we were informed that all of the assistants were 
skillful in performing organizational and administrative duties; they were also 
generally skilled in performing case work. However, while some MPs believed 
the assistants were considerably competent in doing case work, others 
pinpointed to minor shortcomings. As regards the motivation of the assistants, 
some MPs said that the assistants were sufficiently motivated for their work, 
while others believed that the assistants were not highly motivated because 
they faced job insecurity due to the fact that their contracts were of limited 
duration without pension fund benefits. Consequently, the nature of the 
contracts led the assistants to seek other jobs that would provide better 
security for them. In terms of the creativity of the assistants, the opinions were 
divided: some MPs said that the assistants were rather creative in their work 
and sought solutions to certain cases; others, however, maintained that the 
assistants lacked creativity and tended to strictly follow the instructions of the 
MPs in relation to any given case work. 
As to the question of how well the legislators were trained by NDI to work in 
the constituency offices, the answers were invariable insofar that NDI offered 
high-quality training and provided important information and tools relevant for 
the MPs not only to work in the constituency offices, but also to effectively 
help in resolving the problems of the people. 
The MPs assessed the role of NDI in the daily support of the constituency 
offices (in the period when the offices were managed by NDI) as extremely 
positive primarily because of the readiness of NDI to provide additional 
trainings, consultations, resolution of technical problems etc. 
The legislators were also asked to make an approximation as to what 
percentage of population gravitating towards certain constituency office they 
thought was familiar with existence and terms of reference of the given 
constituency office. The answers differed: one MP was not able to give any 
ballpark figure, while the prevailing answer among the rest of the MPs was 
that over 50% of the citizens were familiar with the constituency offices and 
the possibility for them to communicate with the MPs in order to satisfy their 
needs. 
As regards the question as to whether there were reservations on the part of 
the citizens to visit the offices on the grounds of their different ethnic or 
political affiliation as compared to the affiliation of the MP in a particular 
constituency office, some of the respondents said that there seemed to have 
been certain reservations at the outset, which were later overcome. Other 
respondents said, however, that some citizens refrained from visiting the 
offices primarily for reasons relating to different political affiliation rather than 
because of differences in the ethnic affiliation between the given MP and the 
citizen. 
As regards the trust of the citizens in the MPs, the answer was generally 
positive, but partial, because the respondents believed that the trust grew or 
declined depending on the total number of resolved cases. 
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Most of the respondents said that the frequency of visits of citizens to the 
constituency offices grew in time. One of the surveyed said that initially they 
were more visits, the number of which was later reduced and stabilized. 
As to the most frequent requests and needs expressed by the citizens and 
what type of assistance they demanded, most of the MPs said that most often 
the citizens requested resolution of individual problems. The major individual 
problems were related to the status of unemployment of the people, i.e. the 
citizens requested that the MPs find employment for them. Among other 
issues raised by the citizens were those related to unresolved real estate 
disputes, denationalization, i.e. return of property or just compensation, 
problems related to long judicial processes, mobbing at the work place etc. 
Least present issues were those where the MPs were asked to advocate for 
changes in the legislation, adoption of new laws and regulations that would 
resolve the problems of the citizens at systemic level. In the context of the 
requests by the citizens, the MPs tried to seek solutions in communication 
with private firms, local self-governments, local branches of the ministries, 
while the changes in the legislation were initiated through amendments and 
adoption of new laws in the Parliament. Given that the NDI reports include 
figures on solved and unsolved cases of the constituency offices, we asked 
the legislators to pin down the cases that they could not resolve. The answer 
was that most of the unresolved cases pertained to unemployment issues, 
evidently, which the MPs could do little about. There were some cases, 
nonetheless, with good track record of solutions: particularly related to 
communal issues that were reported to have been resolved in more than 50% 
and the issues related to changes in the legislation under the direct 
competence of the MPs. 
According to the MPs, the main benefits from the constituency offices, i.e. 
the communication between the citizens and the legislators, for the 
development of the overall political system are: 
а) By getting to know the problems of the citizens, the legislators start thinking 
about designing strategies to resolve the problems and become aware of the 
specific issues that they should target and work upon; 
b) By getting familiarized with the problems, the MPs, as representatives of 
the political parties, feel more confident in the electoral campaigning; 
c) The feeling of responsibility and accountability of the MPs is improved; 
d) The relationship between the citizens and MPs is improved. Citizens feel 
more respect towards governance structures and the state; 
e) Awareness among the citizens that they are represented is raised, i.e. that 
someone cares for them. 
Functional weaknesses, noted by the MPs: 
а)Not all MPs have their own offices; 
b) Not all municipalities have their own offices; 
c) The assistants are not full-time employed; 
d) The offices do not have their budgets; 
e) Some assistants need additional training; 
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f) Some MPs do not show up in the offices, i.e. they fail to respond to their 
obligations. 
Some of the respondents, however, denied any functional bottlenecks in the 
operation of their offices. 
The attitudes of the MPs indicate that the Assembly as a whole has not 
realized the importance of the constituency offices in order to take measures 
towards overcoming the current weaknesses in their functioning. 
Most of the respondents said that this type of communication between citizens 
and legislators was very important achievement for the political system of the 
Republic of Macedonia. One MP said that the offices were of medium 
importance for the development of the Macedonian political system.
In 2007, NDI signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Parliament of 
RM and the Association of Local Self-Government Units (ZELS), according to 
which the Parlaiment would take over the project in time. In terms of 
expenses, it was agreed that initially the Parliament would only partially cover 
the costs, and later would fully cover the costs for functioning of the offices. 
As for the question whether the take-over of the offices by the Parliament 
would have an impact on the quality of work, they answers differed as follows: 
One response was that the Parliament could prove to be a good manager, 
while others expressed skepticism in terms of its ability to fulfill its obligations 
at the level of quality standards set by NDI. 
The MPs made the following recommendations as to the possible activities 
that can be undertaken in the future to improve the functioning of the 
constituency offices: 
а) To secure sufficient budget and other resources for smooth operation of 
each constituency office; 
б) To report back to the citizens on the results of the work; 
в) To hire full-time assistants with all employment benefits, if only for the 
period of the term in office of the given MP engaged in the constituency office, 
в) In perspective, each office should hire additional assistant who will help the 
MPs deal with the large number of issues under their competence. 
Conclusion 
Pursuant to the goals set forth in the USAID Cooperative Agreement to 
strengthen the ability of citizens to communicate their interest to legislators 
and to increase the level of citizen participation in the parliamentary process, 
NDI worked on establishment and continuously supported the constituency 
offices. This is an exceptionally important novelty and remarkable 
achievement for the Macedonian political system because the constituency 
offices have proven instrumental for introduction of functional links between 
the people and the legislators represented in the National Assembly. 
Furthermore, the benefits from this activity are very important since the 
citizens communicate their interests and needs before their representatives in 
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an organized way, which in turn creates participatory political culture in 
Macedonia (unknown in the political history thus far) where the resolution of 
the problems is sought from the competent authorities rather than from 
unofficial circles. In this context, the expectation is that the citizens will 
gradually improve their awareness of the possibilities opened from this 
communication and will demand and expect important systemic changes in 
the legislation and the overall political and social system. The development of 
participatory political culture of the citizens would potentially lead to increased 
pressure on the MPs to resolve citizens’ problems in a systematic manner. 
The failure of the MPs to accept changes would in turn question their political 
status, the status of their political party etc., and would hence lead to 
increased likelihood for their defeat at the following elections. 
The legislators, for their part, are able to obtain important information relevant 
for the electoral and legislative processes, and at the same time, they become 
more responsible and accountable. In this manner, they tend to take more 
initiatives as political entities, and they change their attitude towards the 
Government in terms of striving to become its equal partner rather than its 
voting machinery. Thus, the healthy division of power may lead to more 
functional relations and important development of the political system, noting, 
of course, that this process requires time and is subject to inevitable 
evolutionary oscillations. In this context, the role of NDI in the programmatic 
activities was assessed as very important particularly in terms of provision of 
training to the legislators and the assistants, further monitoring of the situation 
and assistance in the resolution of problems. NDI was also instrumental in the 
release of the manual which contained information needed for efficient work in 
the constituency offices. NDI was commended for its efforts to secure 
sustainability through transfer of competences in the Parliament and IPD in 
case of termination of its mission. 
Assembly Open Days 
With the aim for the Assembly to be open towards the citizens and to raise the 
awareness of the people about the work of the Parliament, NDI secured 
technical and financial assistance for holding of “Assembly Open Days”. 
These are important events that raise the political interest of the citizens and 
enhance the mutual trust between the citizens and MPs. 
STRENGTHENING LEGISLATIVE PRACTICE 
This area of programmatic intervention was consisted of several projects. We 
will elaborate on each of the constituent projects of this program. 
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Parliamentary Internship Program 
The Parliamentary Internship Program, implemented in the period between 
1999 and 2005, targeted 183 interns who were engaged across various 
Parliamentary (political party) groups, administration units and parliamentary 
working groups. The selection of interns was made by NDI, while the specific 
assignments across Parliamentary groups were consulted with the 
Parliamentary group coordinators. The main goal of the project was for the 
interns to contribute to the work of the Parliament with research and analytical 
inputs and get involved in the related legislative procedures. The interns have 
indeed made contribution to the work of the Parliamentary groups and 
commissions. 
The training was positively evaluated by the interviewed persons and their 
contribution to the work of the Parliament was acknowledged. The role of NDI 
in this process was seen as important primarily because, in addition to the 
basic training provided to the interns, NDI continuously followed the work of 
the hired interns and assisted them in their professional advancement. 
 
Orientation Program for MPs 
The one-day session for the new MPs, which took place in September 2006, 
was well organized and contained beneficial information for introducing the 
MPs with the new functions they were to assume. The MPs showed great 
interest in the session and hence the session was well attended. The program 
was evaluated as extremely important given the different backgrounds of the 
MPs. Thus, this comprehensive training that covered topics related to the 
competences of the MPs, the legal framework and the manner of operation of 
the Parliament provided for high degree of initial professional adaptation for 
the MPs. 
For easy reference, a manual “Representing the People” was designed, which 
was also assessed positively by the MPs. The MPs further underscored that 
the manual contained useful information and practical advice and was 
particularly relevant for the period when they were assuming their function. 
Although the manual is readily accessible to the MPs, it is yet not fully utilized 
by all intended target beneficiaries and its use varies depending on individual 
interest of each and every MP. Of course, even partial use of the manual is of 
great benefit for the work of the MPs. 
House Democratic Partnership - HDP 
Within the partnership arrangement with the democratic group of the U.S 
Congress, 12 MPs were selected to benefit from a study tour to the U.S 
Congress. According to some of the interviewed MPs, the selection was made 
jointly by the parliamentary groups and NDI. Other MPs, however, said that 
the selection had been made according to the criteria set by NDI, while the 
final decision had rested with the parliamentary groups themselves. During 
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the visits, which took place between 2005 and 2009, the MPs were exposed 
to gaining knowledge and skills, as per the planned program. The study visits 
proved particularly relevant in terms of improvement of the knowledge and 
skills for communication with citizens and debating, as well as for 
establishment of MPs groups. During the visit, the MPs became familiarized 
with the work of the Congress, the research centre of the Congress as well as 
the procedure for adoption of laws and preparation and adoption of the 
budget. The fact that the study visits included representatives from different 
political parties contributed to strengthening of the inter-party cooperation and 
general fostering of collaboration between the MPs. Some of the interviewed 
MPs noted that the study visit programs had been rather intensive, which can 
also be viewed as an indication of their value. Most of the study tour 
beneficiaries said that the study visits had been of particular significance for 
development of the political system in the Republic of Macedonia. 
Rules of Procedure and the Law on Parliament 
The disagreement around the scope and content of the Book of the Rules of 
Procedure has been customary ever since the introduction of the multi-party 
system in the Republic of Macedonia. Namely, despite the several changes 
and amendments, the Rules of Procedure have never fully met the demands 
of the opposition parties which have always appealed for longer time for 
discussion and greater involvement in the working bodies and plenary 
sessions. The idea for adoption of a Law on Parliament has been present in 
the scholarly and political debate for some time now. Some analysts argue 
that adoption of a Law on Parliament is unnecessary as the related issues are 
already dealt with by the Rules of Procedure. Others, by contrast, hold that 
such law is required for the reasons that it may potentially reinforce the 
position of the Parliament in the political system and further clarify the 
constitutional provisions relating to the competences and operation of the 
Parliament. The latter believe, therefore, that such clarifications can only be 
possible with adoption of such a law. The political criteria reflected in the 
European Commission reports have always emphasized the need for further 
clarification of the competences of the Assembly and its stronger positioning 
between the other two powers in society. The reports have also been calling 
for greater transparency and better exercise of democratic principles.1
According to the reports, these aims can only be achieved through 
commensurate normative actions, i.e. adoption of a new Rules of Procedure 
and a Law on Parliament. In that regard, the efforts of NDI have proven very 
relevant in the process of design of normative provisions and provided 
grounds for invigorated employment of the democratic principles in the 
Parliament and the political system in general. 
Since 2005, NDI has been actively involved in the process of harmonization of 
the positions of the MP’s groups around the adoption of the new Rules of 
Procedure. The said Rules of Procedure was adopted in July 2008 – thereby 
opening new horizons for development of parliamentarianism. The proposals 
 
1
 Observations and recommendations for improvement of the work of the Assembly of the Republic of 
Macedonia in the reports of the European Commission on the progress of the Republic of Macedonia 
for 2009, 2008, , 2007, 2006. 
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advanced by NDI have contributed to strengthening the position of the 
working bodies in the decision-making process; more democratic course of 
the plenary sessions; changes in the process of adoption of laws; greater 
public in the three readings of the laws, improved transparency in the work, 
and more openness in regard to the role of the administration of the 
Parliament. 
The adoption of the Law on Parliament in 2009 is a result of the political will of 
the political parties; it responds to the observations of the European 
Commission and reflects the efforts of NDI. The adoption of the Law provided 
for clarification of the position of the MPs, the establishment and operation of 
the MPs groups, the role of the President and vice-Presidents of the 
Parliament, the oversight role of the Parliament, coordination within the 
Parliament, the financial independence, informing the citizens and 
improvement of the contacts between the MPs and the citizens. All these 
changes brought about improvement in the position of the legislative power 
relative to the other powers in the Republic of Macedonia. At the same time, 
the Law made a strong impetus to advancement of the overall political 
system. NDI has made significant contribution to improvement of the 
communication between the MPs and citizens2
, improvement of the position 
of the Parliament vis-à-vis the Government through reinforced oversight 
function3
, fostering of the public debate in the legislative process4
 and 
utilization of better expertise through the establishment of the Parliamentary 
research institute (Parliamentary institute).5
 
In the process of adoption of these key documents, NDI played critical 
mediation and stimulating role particularly in terms of keeping the issue high 
on the agenda and stressing the need to reach compromise on adoption of 
the legal acts. Otherwise, there seems to have been a fair level of agreement 
among the MPs groups on the proposals advanced by NDI. The 
disagreements mostly refer to the reluctance of the ruling majority parties to 
accept the requests from the opposition parties and are linked to the issues 
such as the use of languages of communities which are not majority in the 
state, increase in the duration of speeches and the possibility for the 
opposition parties to propose agenda items for every plenary session. The 
process of adoption of the acts was compromise-based and went without 
major problems. Any issues that may have emerged were mostly of technical, 
rather than of substantive nature. The finding is that the new acts have 
considerably improved the performance of the Assembly and have made 
strong input to the process of strengthening the political system in the 
Republic of Macedonia. As for the adoption of these legal documents, the 
interviewed MPs have found the role of NDI to be consistent, unimposing, 
exceptional and key to the process. 
 
2
 Set forth by Article 36 of the Law on Parliament published in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of 
Macedonia, No. 104/2009, whereby Friday is designated a day for meetings of MPs their constituency. 
3
 As provided for by Articles 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 оn the oversight hearings of the Law on Parliament, 
published in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia”, No104/2009 
4
 The possibility to invite persons in the oversight hearings, regulated with Article 20, paragraph 3 of 
the Law on Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia 
5
 Pursuant to Article 42 of the Law on Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia 
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Public hearings 
The openess of the legislative power for public participation in the decision￾making processes is one of the main indicators of democratic practices. Such 
openess not only refers to transparency of work, but also exercise of 
participatory approach in the decision-making processes, including the 
citizens, non-governmental organisations and the private sector. Such 
participation normally opens opportunities for inclusion of specific knowledge, 
information and interests in the legislative process. At the same time, the 
public hearings are institutional forms for filtering the proposed laws by having 
critical review of their quality and collecting proposals for overcoming any 
problems of public interest for all concerned segments of the population. The 
EC progress reports as well as the analytical reports of various institutes and 
NGOs have been continuously voicing criticism for the Republic of Macedonia 
in relation to the insufficient frequency or lack of public hearings in the 
legislative process. For this reason, the engagement of NDI in the stimulation 
of parliamentary public hearings has been of particular importance. More 
specifically, NDI has managed to keep the interest alive not only among the 
public, but also among the MPs and has provided technical assistance in the 
design and implementation of such public hearings. 
NDI has organized trainings for parliamentary public hearings for the MPs 
and for the employed in the parliamentary administration. The trainings have 
been positively evaluated by the interviewed MPs and were considered to 
have been well designed and competently implemented. NDI also assisted 
with preparation of a Manual to bring the concept of public hearings closer to 
the MPs. The MPs found the Manual to be useful; however, they think they 
need more time to study the issues since the process is in its initial stage. 
The role of NDI in the project implementation has been assessed as 
extremely positive particularly for the reasons mentioned that NDI has 
organized the public hearings in a professional manner from the beginning to 
the end. This approach has had positive impact on creating overall 
professionalism in the work of the Assembly. 
In addition to the public hearings, NDI has also supported three oversight 
hearings. The oversight hearings are particularly important for the 
development of the political system as they tend to strengthen the role of the 
Parliament vis-à-vis the Government. With the oversight hearings, the 
Parliament may now critically review and challenge the proposed laws by the 
Government and thus assume control function in relation to the executive 
power. This function was practically non-existent prior to the introduction of 
this mechanism. The oversight hearing is therefore a strong control 
mechanism of the Parliament in terms of the implementation of laws by the 
Government. Notwithstanding, there are certain limitations to it. The first 
limitation is that the oversight hearing may be initiated by the originating 
working body with majority of members in attendance, or by a written request 
signed by 15 MPs. The first alternative is unlikely to be employed as the 
Commissions are dominated by MPs from the ruling majority who are 
14
reluctant to oppose the executive power and hence the highest officials from 
their political parties. According to the political literature, the Macedonian 
political parties are undemocratic because they are dominated by a leader, or, 
less often, by party oligarchy, which are the ones to nominate the candidates 
for MPs in the national elections. This is in contrast with the definition for the 
oversight hearing, which represents critical review of policies or proposed 
laws coming from the party leadership represented in the highest positions of 
the executive power. The second possibility, as mentioned above, is for 15 
MPs to initiate an oversight hearing. The problem here is that it is the 
originating body which decides on the duration of the hearing, which implies 
that restrictions may be imposed in terms of time thus not allowing for the 
most critical issues to be tackled. Last but not least, the financial resources for 
the oversight hearings are provided by funds of the Parliament allocated with 
the central budget of the Republic of Macedonia6
. This, of course, means that 
budgetary constraints may be preventing sufficient number of hearings from 
taking place, i.e. the lack of budget resources may be an excuse for refusing 
to hold oversight hearings on sensitive issues. Therefore, the role of NDI in 
organization of oversight hearings is of great significance and has had impact 
on strengthening of the political role of the Parliament and the overall political 
system of the country. 
Conclusion 
Pursuant to the goals outlined in the USAID Cooperative Agreement to assist 
the National Assembly to improve its legislative capacities, its institutional 
independence and the oversight function, NDI has undertaken a large number 
of activities to achieve these goals. The activities have been focused on the 
internship program, initial training for MPs who assumed duty in 2006, 
organization of a study tour to the Democratic House of the US Congress, 
improvement of the Rules of Procedure, adoption of the Law on Parliament, 
public and oversight hearings. The analysis has shown that most of the 
activities have yielded results, although some segments, such as the 
oversight hearings cannot be expected to show dramatic results in short run. 
This for the reason that there are several factors influencing the effective 
implementation of oversight hearings which are realistically beyond the NDI’s 
capacities to influence. Notwithstanding, NDI has proven its strong 
professional, organizational and financial capacities and its work has led to 
measurable improvements in the work of the Parliament, thus contributing to 
improvement of the overall political system. 
 
 
6
 Law on Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia, Articles 20-23 
15
STRENGTHENING THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN POLITICS 
Club of Women MPs (Women Deputies Club)7
The Club of Women MPs was established on 7 March 2003 within the 
framework of the regional project of the Stability Pact – Gender Equality 
Table, with assistance from the local partners of the Macedonian women’s 
lobby, the Union of Women’s Organizations of Macedonia (SOZM) and the 
Unit for Promotion of Gender Equality at the Ministry of Labor and Social 
Policy. Over the past five years, the Club of Women MPs has operated as 
informal group within the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia and has 
been comprised of all women MPs irrespective of the political party they 
represent.8
 
NDI has delivered over 20 trainings to the women MPs. The women MPs 
expressed great satisfaction with the conducted trainings – they particularly 
stressed that the trainings contributed to improvement of their knowledge and 
skills and appreciated the in-depth focus on gender issues. They also said 
that the trainings “offered opportunities for them to get relieved from party￾prone thinking”. In an indirect way, the trainings were also found to have 
contributed to the overall functioning of the Parliament of RM: they helped in 
building self-confidence of the women MPs and raised their awareness of 
their own abilities and capacities. The operation of the Club of Women MPs 
has been also instrumental in bringing to the surface priorities other than 
those of the political parties. The training events have also contributed to 
improvement of inter-party cooperation and lessening the tensions among the 
MPs, particularly around the gender issues. The trainings have opened some 
fresh ideas as to the role of the MPs and have provided solid grounds for 
more organized influence of the women MPs in the Parliament. The topics 
linked to communication with citizens and awareness of gender-based 
discrimination was identified as areas where the women MPs had no 
significant prior knowledge. The intervewed women MPs did not express any 
shortcomings or weaknesses in the trainings. On the contrary, they said the 
trainings have made significant contribution to the development of the political 
system in the Republic of Macedonia. The role of NDI was positively 
assessed not only in terms of the overall operation of the Women MPs Club, 
but also the women MPs commended the readiness of NDI to respond to the 
 
7
 Article 2, paragraph 2 of the Book on the Rules for Organization and Scope of Work of the 
Women MPs Club of 5 March 2008 
8
 The scope of work of the Club includes improvement of the status and position of women 
and establishment of equal opportunities for women and men pursuant to the Law on Equal 
Opportunities, standards and principles of international convenstions and documents ratified 
or signed by the Republic of Macedonia which refer to the equal opportunities and protection 
from discrimination in the area of labor, social welfare and social insurance, economy, health, 
education, security and the political system 
16
real needs of the parties along with their technical skills and allocation of 
sufficient resources to conduct the trainings. 
Changes in the electoral law 
From 1994 to 1998, there were only 3% women in the Parliament of RM 
which was due primarily to the majority electoral system in force during the 
parliamentary elections of 1994 and the traditional culture of the citizens who 
tended not to vote for women candidates. The political parties, aware of these 
factors, seem to have been reluctant to nominate women candidates. With the 
changes in the electoral legislation, primarily the Electoral Law of 2006 and 
the introduction of a proportional electoral model for election of MPs and 
municipal Council members, an opportunity emerged for normative regulation 
of the gender representation. Thus, in the parliamentary elections of 2006, 
31% of the MPs were women, while in 2008, 32% were women. This numbers 
substantiate the great success achieved by the Club of Women MPs and NDI 
who advocated for legal guarantees for gender representation. The problem 
remains in the mayoral elections because Mayors are elected on the basis of 
the majority electoral system and gender equality cannot be achieved with 
interventions in laws. For this reason, during the last local elections of 2009, 
no single woman Mayor was elected. The gender inequality problem is also 
present among the nominated officials. At the level of ministries, the situation 
is the following: 
- 2 women Ministers of a total of 22 ministerial positions (internal affairs and 
culture); 
- 3 deputy ministers (education and science; information society and 
environment); 
- 6 state secretaries (internal affairs, justice, finance, economy, local self￾government, transport and communications).9
 
The interviewed MPs stressed that there have been no major disagreements 
among the political parties on the changes in the electoral legislation and 
inclusion of the gender-relevant concepts. Any disagreements were said to 
have been sporadic and voiced by only few MPs; compromise was mediated 
by NDI. At the same time, the MPs stressed that the changes in the electoral 
law signified important step forward in the electoral process and thus in the 
overall electoral process and the political system of RM. Namely, through 
better representation of women, new opportunities are created for tapping into 
the professional potentials of the entire population and their mobilization into 
the political processes. The women MPs also concluded that these efforts 
were illustrative of the principle of positive discrimination. The concept of 
quota, however, can prove risky under certain circumstances; this means that 
under pressure, the political parties may risk to nominate women candidates 
that are less competent than the male candidates. Notwithstanding, the 
choice as to which candidates to nominate and how to distribute them on the 
 
9
 Towards Gender Equal Macedonia, publication of the Centre for Research and Policy 
Making, 2009, p. 15. 
17
candidates’ lists rests with the political parties. Given that within the political 
parties, there are enough women to fulfil all criteria for quality candidates, the 
risk for nominating candidates only to fulfill quotas is diminishing. It is 
generally accepted that NDI has played an important role as initiator, 
supporter and coordinator of the process of changes in the legislation. This is 
the main reason why the interviewed MPs assessed the role of NDI as 
“positive and essential in all phases of the changes of the legislation.” 
Amendments to other laws 
The official documents of the Club of Women MPs10 reveal records of fruitful 
activities pertaining to the changes and amendments of the existing laws in 
the areas of family law, health law, civic law, penal law etc., from the 
viewpoint of improvement of the status of women and protection against any 
form of discrimination. The interviewed MPs said that major achievements 
had been made for promotion of gender equality. However, they also said that 
it had been difficult for them to reach consensus within their Club on issues 
relating to budgeting and mobbing. The changes that were initiated by the 
Club of Women MPs, with support of NDI, were found to have had positive 
impact on the legal system of the RM. Although the Club has been generally 
recognizable for its ability to reach consensus on gender equality issues, yet, 
specific issues with budgetary implications have borne reflection of political 
party positions. Resistance has been particularly evident on initiatives coming 
from the opposite parties (ruling vs. opposition parties) as well as from non￾governmental organizations in cases when they were not in line with the 
projected budget by the Government. Major differences in political party 
opinions have also been noted on the issue of prolonging the terms and 
conditions for retirement of women. 
The role of NDI in the process of changing the legislation has been assessed 
as positive and encouraging not only for the women MPs, but also for all other 
MPs and helped in their support for measures aimed at improvement of the 
status of women. 
Training for future MPs 
In the pre-electoral period, a large number of women NGOs, foundations and 
international organizations focused their work on strenghtening the capacities 
of women candidates to present themselves and improve their knowledge of 
political issues. Those trainings were primarily focused on certain geographic 
regions, ethnic communities or political party. NDI conducted trainings which 
were rather comprehensive both in terms of the choice of curricula and 
number of women-candidates for MPs covered. 
 
10 Programme for work of the Club of Women candidates for 2008, of 5 march 2009 and the you-year 
report of the work of the women MPs Club 
18
During 2006, NDI initiated training for women candidates for the parliamentary 
elections held the same year. The contents of the trainings were found to 
have led to significant improvement in the knowledge and skills of the women 
MPs. It cannot be ascertained however, which trainings topics were most 
relevant (or needed). No major shortcomings were noted in terms of training 
organization and delivery. Taking into account the importance of gender 
equality in the political arena as well as the need for more qualified women 
candidates at the parliamentary elections, the assessment is that the trainings 
have made significant contribution for development of the political system of 
the country. NDI is seen to have played essential and important role in the 
training process and proved ready to continuously improve the quality of 
trainings, respond to the real needs of the political parties, demonstrate 
technical competence and provide sufficient financial resources for trainings. 
Conclusion 
Pursuant to the goals set forth in the USAID Cooperative Agreement for 
securing equiatable representation and active participation of women in the 
political processes, NDI has taken a large number of activities for reaching 
these goals. The activities included provision of trainings, assistance to the 
Club of Women MPs for changes in the electoral legislation and identification 
and amendment to other laws that bear implications on gender equality. The 
changes are evaluated as successful and with real impact on the overall 
political system and legal order of the Republic of Macedonia. 
STRENGTHENING THE DEMOCRATIC LEGACY 
This programmatic activity consisted of two projects, which will be analyzed 
below. 
Citizens’ Association Most 
With technical and financial assistance from NDI, the Citizens’ Association 
MOST was established as domestic organization for elections monitoring in 
2002. In the initial two years MOST was exclusively financed by NDI. At later 
stages, MOST also received resources from over ten donors including the 
German Embassy in the Republic of Macedonia, SDC, USAID, ITZ, BTD and 
others. Today, in addition to the Republic of Macedonia, MOST is hired by 
OSCE and the U.S ENEMO to monitor elections in many other countries in 
the world. 
MOST is a non-governmental organization with 4 full-time core staff members, 
14 regularly engaged contractors in the centre and 19 regularly engaged 
19
contractors in the regional offices. The Assembly of MOST consists of 35 
members who are also founders of the NGO. The personnel of MOST have 
undergone numerous trainings and are able to perform various kinds of 
activities relevant for the mission and mandate of their organization. 
NDI and MOST have cooperated on projects either fully financed by NDI, or 
projects that have received funds from joint application by NDI and MOST. 
NDI has organized the signing of the Code for Free and Fair Elections several 
times, while MOST has been monitoring the elections. 
Based on the above, one can draw the conclusion that NDI assisted in the 
establishment and operation of MOST in an area that is of great significance 
to NDI, that is, the elections. NDI invested considerable financial resources in 
MOST from early on, and also provided trainings and premises when needed 
(MOST availed of the premises of NDI for certain period of time). NDI remains 
partner of MOST in implementation of elections projects. This partnership 
demonstrates the willinessness and commitment of NDI not only to partner 
with MOST in project implementation, but also to ensure sustainability of 
efforts in the future, once NDI withdraws from their mission in the Republic of 
Macedonia. 
Institute for Parliamentary Democracy (IPD) 
The Institute for Parliamentary Democracy (IPD) was established by NDI in 
2008 as a locally-based organization with mission to continue working with the 
Macedonian Assembly once NDI withdraws from the country. Since its 
inception, IPD has been receiving considerable financial, technical and 
professional assistance from NDI. The initial staff composition of IPD included 
6 former NDI employees who transferred their gained knowledge and skills to 
the new organization. The number of employees increased in time and the 
criteria for employment always considered the experience in the local offices 
established by NDI as requirement. 
IPD is currently working on the NDI project relating to the Constituency 
Offices, which should be fully transferred to the Assembly of the Republic of 
Macedonia after 2012. We already elaborated on the significance of this 
project for the development of participatory political culture in the Republic of 
Macedonia and the overall strengthening of the role of the National Assembly. 
The second project, developed and funded by NDI (jointly implemented by 
NDi and IPD) is the project dealing with the establishment of Parliamentary 
Research Centre at the Assembly of RM. This project is particularly important 
given that the comparative experiences from other countries on certain vital 
issues may prove instrumental for building the capacities of the Parliament to 
respond to the tasks at hand. The project has been undergoing several 
phases, such as for example the phases of defining the project structure, 
setting the directions and procedures, staffing, obtaining premises and 
equipment, training and development of staff, formulating the outputs and 
services and establishing domestic and international cooperation. In all these 
phases, NDI and IPD have been building direct partnership relations, or have 
20
been undertaking complementary actions. This means that the responsibility 
for implementation of some components of the project have been assumed by 
NDI, while other components have been within the authority of IPD; in some 
project segments NDI and IPD have shared responsibility for implementation. 
NDI has been entrusted to build partnerships with the international, while IPD 
with the domestic entities. In that context, IPD has found NDI to be a very 
serious organization, which has played critical role in the establishment and 
development of IPD. 
Conclusion 
Pursuant to the goals outlined in the USAID Cooperative Agreement to ensure 
the sustainability of NDI’s program results beyond the end of NDI’s USAID 
funded activities in Macedonia by establishing a legacy non-governmental 
organization and to strengthen the organizational capacity of the Institute for 
Parliamentary Democracy (IPD) to promote an open, participatory and 
accounatable legislative process, putting into operation the identical goals that 
preceeded the establishment of MOST. NDI undertook a large number of 
activities to achieve these goals including trainings for the employees and 
other engaged persons, provision of professional, technical and financial 
assistance to those organizations by applying systematic approach over a 
long period of time. The programs of NDI were successfully implemented 
These two organizations (MOST and IPD) have professional capacities or 
trained staff, competences and program orientation by which they can secure 
sustainability of NDI’s programs upon completion of its mission in the 
Republic of Macedonia. 
STRENGTHENING POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTORAL PRACTICE 
This programmatic activity consisted of several projects, which will be 
analyzed separately below. 
Program for political parties 
In addition to the State as the most important institution, the political arena in 
any contemporary society is also occupied with political parties as 
exceptionally important instruments for meeting the needs and interests of 
specific social groups and the society at large. The development of the 
political parties stimulates political competition; the political parties 
substantiate their existence with achievement of vital interests for the society. 
Hence, progress in development of the political parties is an important 
assumption for development of democracy and the overall political system. 
With those considerations in mind, NDI delivered over 100 trainings to 
representatives of various political parties in 2002. The criteria for participation 
21
were set by NDI, while the final selection was made by the political parties 
who proposed the names of participants. The interviewed persons said that 
the trainings were useful for improvement of their knowledge and skills in the 
covered topics. 
According to the interviewees, the content of the trainings significantly 
contributed towards better organization and work within the political parties. 
The trainings were also useful for the political parties in terms of taking a more 
functional approach to their work; the training events also contributed to 
emergence of improved political programs on the political scene. The 
interviewed attendees said that progress was particularly visible in the overall 
operation of the local branches of the political parties. Improvements were 
particularly noted in the efficiency of communication with the citizens at the 
level of local self-governments. The surveyed people said that the number of 
training participants were sufficient insofar to yield effects for the practical 
work of the political parties. Another positive observation was that the 
participants came from different geographic regions, which was seen to have 
increased the impact of the trainings. The trainings were found to have 
facilitated inter-party cooperation and also helped in mitigation of tensions 
among representatives of the various political parties (which is commonly 
seen phenomenon for the Macedonian society) through cooperation and joint 
work on various topics, as well as through informal communication among the 
participants. Some of the interviewees quoted an example of improvement in 
the cooperation between the ethnic Roma political parties. However, 
prevailing conclusion is that inter-party cooperation and the communication 
between the various political parties is still not at the desired level. 
 The greatest benefit from the trainings delivered by NDI is the 
personal/individual upgrade of knowledge and skills of the participants, along 
with the opportunities for communication and joint work of the participants. 
Another indicator of success is that a large number of participants were later 
nominated to assume responsible positions/functions. The participants were 
found to be least knowledgeable in the issues of planning and organization of 
electoral campaigns and the modalities for communication with citizens. NDI 
is seen to have played essential and important role in the training process and 
proved ready to continuously improve the quality of trainings, respond to the 
real needs of the political parties and demonstrate technical competence. 
Some of the interviewed persons commended the good communication with 
NDI. 
Political party monitoring of elections 
In the parliamentary democratic systems, elections have two-fold aims: to 
provide legitimacy for the elected representatives to exercise power; and to 
serve as means to hold politicians responsible for the activities undertaken 
during their term in office. 
In addition to the members of the electoral boards present at the polling 
stations, the voting process is closely monitored by observers from political 
22
parties, non-governmental organizations and international organizations. The 
monitoring process is intended to ensure democratic flow of the electoral 
process. Evidently, the observers coming from the political parties tend to be 
less impartial, and yet are by far more interested in the actual voting process 
at the polling stations as compared with the independent monitors. 
Furthermore, the electoral experience thus far has seen a large number of 
incidents caused precisely by the political party observers. It is for those 
reasons that the training delivered by NDI to the political party monitors on the 
electoral rules and the related violations proves to be particularly important. 
The training participants were selected by the political parties without prior 
criteria set by NDI. This is understandable, of course, given that every political 
party member may avail of the opportunity to monitor the elections on behalf 
of the given party. The trainings focused on the legal framework, particularly 
the electoral system and processes, the democratic approach to be exercised 
during elections and the significance of every vote cast. During the trainings, 
the participants gained knowledge and skills that were needed for monitoring 
of the electoral process. The interviewed persons said that the number of 
political party representatives trained in the issues of elections monitoring was 
sufficient in terms of providing the political parties with tools to effectively 
observe and participate in the electoral process. As for the mixed political 
composition of the training groups, opinions varied as to whether the trainings 
managed to improve the inter-party cooperation. Namely, some of the 
surveyed participants said the trainings had positive influence on the inter￾party relations, while others disagreed. Among the likely reasons for these 
opposing opinions is the timing of the trainings, i.e. the trainings took place in 
the immediate pre-electoral period rather than well between two elections. 
Some of the interviewed persons said that the trainings should continue, while 
others said that the trainings were not so effective precisely because of the 
problems caused by some election monitors. All surveyed participants 
assessed the role of NDI as very important and positive, particularly in terms 
of the preparedness of NDI to continuously improve the quality of trainings, 
respond to the real needs of the political parties, demonstrate technical 
competence and provide sufficient financial resources for trainings. 
Code for Free Elections 
The electoral legislation in the Republic of Macedonia has been continuously 
improved to ensure free and fair elections. Notwithstanding, the 
OSCE/ODIHR and the national monitors alike have always identified electoral 
irregularities. Certain irregularities have been continuously noted in EC 
progress reports on the Republic of Macedonia11. Under such circumstances, 
a need has been identified for design, adoption and implementation of a Code 
for Free Elections. However, taking into account that the legally binding norms 
for free and fair elections are not fully observed, one is hesitant to conclude to 
what extent the legally non-bindings provisions of the Code may be 
realistically implemented. 
 
11Reports of the European Commission for the progress of the Republic of Macedonia, 2009, 2008, 
2007, 2006 
23
Some of the surveyed people believed that it was the OSCE which had 
initiated the adoption of the Code, while majority of the interviewed contended 
that it was the NDI to play that role. There seem to have been no major 
disagreements among the various political parties in terms of the substantive 
content of the Code; the Code was signed by all political parties. Of course, 
the signing of the Code may also be seen as part of the public relations 
agenda of the political parties to present themselves before their 
constituencies as democratic political parties which strive for fair elections. 
According to the interviewed people, although the Code has been slowly 
implemented in practice, it is nonetheless an important tool harmonized and 
adopted by all political parties. The interviewees believed that the Code had 
proved instrumental for some political parties to advocate among their 
supporters to refrain from illegal activities during elections. However, the Code 
is not fully observed as yet which is illustrated with the fact that some political 
parties continue to attempt at gaining political positions through electoral 
irregularities. The interviewees also said that the EC reports had also 
contributed to positive developments in terms of the electoral process: 
namely, the EC recommendations are seen as mandatory and every political 
party desires to leave good impression before the European Union. The 
interviewed persons said that most of the suggestions given by OSCE, as well 
as the contents of the Code for Free Elections were incorporated in the 
Election Law, but also stressed that there was room for further improvements. 
The role of NDI in the entire process of adoption, signing, implementation and 
monitoring of the Code was assessed as positive and important. 
Changes in the electoral legislation 
One of the major benefits of the changes of the Election Law that were 
proposed by NDI is related to greater participation of women candidates, 
which contributed to further democratization of the political parties. The 
changes in the Election Law are seen as particularly important not only for the 
electoral process, but also for the development of the overall political system 
in the Republic of Macedonia. For the purposes of democratization of the 
electoral system in the Republic of Macedonia, the issue of candidates’ lists 
was also raised. More specifically, the closed party lists seem to reduce the 
election of candidates to a decision coming from a small number of top 
decision-makers within any given political party. The open party lists would 
leave room for the citizens to decide which candidates to give their trust to. 
Thus, the open party lists would help in achievement of higher democratic 
goals within the political system. 
Most of the political parties, particularly the major ones, advocate for closed 
candidates’ lists. This opinion was shared by the interviewed people: they 
noted, nonetheless, that although their political parties preferred the closed 
candidates’ lists, they personally were more inclined towards open lists. By 
organizing meetings on open and closed candidates’ lists, NDI initiated a 
debate on the positive and negative sides of the open and closed lists and this 
paved the way for changes in the electoral model in the Republic of 
24
Macedonia. From an academic point of view, such meetings were useful and 
encouraging, but from a practical viewpoint they had limited significance as it 
was difficult to launch the debate without the necessary commitment by the 
political parties. Notwithstanding, bringing the topic on the agenda is by itself 
an important step, which may lead to democratic changes in the electoral 
legislation and practice in the forthcoming period. 
Generally, the role of NDI in the process of changes in the electoral legislation 
was assessed as educational, positive and creative. 
Conclusion 
Pursuant to the goals set forth by the USAID Cooperative Agreement to 
strengthen the capacities of the political parties, to promote dialogue on 
election law reform and to improve the accountability of elected 
representatives to their constituency, NDI implemented several projects, 
including the program for political parties, monitoring of the elections by the 
political parties, signing and implementation of the Code for Fair and Free 
Elections and changes in the Election Law. Most of these projects have 
yielded significant results; some of them, such as the project on the Code for 
Fair and Free Elections had only limited results, primarily due to the fact that 
the electoral behavior is influenced by many factors, some of which are 
beyond the capacities of NDI. Notwithstanding, the achievements of NDI are 
significant contribution towards strengthening the political parties and the 
reform of the electoral legislation in the Republic of Macedonia. 
 
OTHER ASPECTS RELEVANT FOR EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT 
The first question is whether the project was integrated, supported or 
undermined by other donor programs. In that context, one should note that 
there are indeed other donor projects also focused on building the capacities 
of the National Parliament. Among the donors is the Westminster Foundation 
for Democracy Macedonia, which undertakes projects focused on the 
experiences and good practices of the British political or parliamentarian 
system. The Westminster Foundation has been covering the following topics: 
 
1. Parliamentary democracy 
2. Working in the Parliament service – function of the commissions: how to 
hold the executive power accountable 
3.Financial oversight for Parliament officers 
4.Reporting from Parliament for journalists 
5.The role of Parliaments in adherence to the rule of law and their obligations 
in terms of observance of constitutional and human rights; and the like. 
Other group of projects are financed with IPA funds from the European Union 
(EU pre-accession funds).These projects focus on issues of the EU legislation 
25
and experiences. The following project activities will be undertaken in the 
period 2010-2012: 
1. Training/study tours for the relevant Parliamentary units/sectors (Human 
Resources Unit, Legislation Unit) related to the role of the Parliament in the 
process of negotiations with the EU and training on nomotechnics, 
preparation of amendments, refined legal texts linked with the EU process 
2. Training/study tours of the relevant Parliamentary units/sectors on research 
and analysis for preparation of quality reports on legislation and EU policies 
and utilization of relevant data-bases for preparation of reports and analysis 
3. Procurement and training of people for use of special software/hardware for 
electronic archiving of audio/video records on EU laws, policies and 
institutions 
4.Establishment and equipping of a EU centre for use of the Parliament units, 
legislators and citizens, with literature on EU laws, policies and institutions. 
Judging from the previous account of activities all aimed at strengthening the 
capacities of the Parliament, it is clear that the projects of NDI/USAID have 
been markedly most diverse in topics and rich in frequency. This is not, of 
course, to underestimate the role of other donors: their projects seem to have 
been important as well and by rule complementary to the NDI projects. With 
the aim to harmonize the work of the various donors, the Parliament has 
established a standing Steering Committee. It may happen nonetheless that a 
specific topic covered by one project may coincide with a topic of another 
project, such as for example, the topic of cooperation and communication 
between the Parliament and journalists. Namely, this topic has been subject 
of interest both to NDI and the Westminster program and has been 
incorporated in the strategic program activities of both organizations. 
However, the tendency for application of a systemic approach has brought 
about the necessity to have the topic covered by both organizations, which in 
this case, has been seen as an advantage, not redundancy. 
Currently, the legislation pertaining to the legislative, oversight and 
representative functions is strong and rather functional. The political will for 
full exercise of these functions has also improved over the past few years, 
albeit with room for further improvements particularly in terms of the oversight 
functions. 
As regards the appropriateness of program staffing vis-a-vis the NDI’s 
activities and objectives, NDI Macedonia has a total of 12 employees, 
consisted of a Country Director, Program Director, 6 Program Managers, 2 
Program Officers, and 2 Program Assistants. The program activities are 
managed by Program Managers, who, together with any of the other 
employees, may be involved in any of the activities and phases of project 
implementation. The projects are implemented by external experts or experts 
from the U.S.A, but also Macedonia and other countries who provide training 
or other form of professional or technical support to the project participants. 
MOST and IPD (the two organizations created by NDI) have also been 
partners to the projects. Given that the project beneficiaries maintained that 
the projects were useful and professionally organized, one is safe in 
26
concluding that the NDI staff was appropriate insofar to successfully 
implement the activities and achieve the project objectives. 
USAID has invested 7,185,196.00 US$ in NDI projects, which is a 
considerable amount of financial recourses. Given that the work of NDI 
resulted in strengthened and more functional Assembly, improved exercising 
of the rights of the citizens and better citizens’ participation in the political 
process, we trust that the resources spent have been commensurate to the 
program objectives and have justified the investment goals. 
Section IV: GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
1.GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 
The importance of the projects undertaken by NDI is multi-fold and is linked 
with the functionality of the political system. Namely, the political system is 
considered functional when the citizens and the authorities enter into active 
relationship. For this relationship to be productive, it should take place not 
only during the electoral process as such, but also in the periods between 
elections when the citizens are called upon to observe the political 
developments with critical eye and provide their inputs to the development 
processes. This relationship also requires from citizens certain degree of 
participatory political culture, i.e. a considerable level of information, 
understanding of the importance of the political institutions and politics and 
measures undertaken by the state authorities and their (citizens’) 
determination to actively participate in the political processes. In its political 
history, the participatory political culture was not the one prevailing in 
Macedonia. Instead, the citizens have mostly felt like “subjects” in the system 
in which they have been relatively well informed of the overall developments, 
had little knowledge of the work of the institutions, almost no communication 
with the MPs after elections and almost no influence or attempts for exertion 
of pressure on the authorities in the decision-making process. To address the 
issue, NDI worked on improving the direct contacts between the citizens and 
the Members of Parliament for resolving the problems of the citizens through 
the establishment of constituency offices for communication between MPs 
and citizens. Although the citizens mostly approached the MPs for resolution 
of their individual problems, the establishment of such offices is considered 
very important for the development of the political system in Macedonia since 
the citizens have been given the opportunity to receive first-hand information 
from the MPs about the functioning of the political institutions and have 
become aware of the opportunities to influence the decision-making 
processes in a systematic way. In the meantime, the citizens have indeed 
availed of the opportunities to advocate for legislative changes on issues 
affecting their lives and managed to influence the Assembly to adopt laws 
serving their interests. More importantly, with the establishment of this 
27
communication channel, the way has been paved for development of 
participatory political culture and the awareness has been raised that the 
citizens should be an active factor in the political processes and should be 
able to influence the authorities in the processes of adoption and 
implementation of decisions. In other words, the activities undertaken by NDI 
have led to important democratization of the political system as a whole. 
In this context, another important activity undertaken by NDI is the 
introduction of the practice of public hearings. Namely, the openness of the 
legislator towards the public in the decision-making processes is one of the 
most important indicators of the degree of democratization of any society. 
Such democratization implies transparency of work and more opportunities for 
participation in the decision-making processes by the citizens, non￾governmental organizations and the commercial entities. The public hearing 
events significantly increase the level of citizens’ and other entities’ 
knowledge on particular issues which also leads to creation of critical 
awareness among all stakeholders about the situation in a given area and 
also improved likelihood for incorporation of the specific interests of various 
groups in the political decisions. As such, the public hearings are important 
factor for creation of participatory political culture among the citizens. Of 
course, few public hearings cannot radically alter the level of political culture 
of the citizens, but are nevertheless significant for their role in paving the way 
towards lasting improvement of the level of participatory political culture of the 
citizens as active factors in the political processes. 
From the point of view of the political science, another important aspect of the 
NDI’s work is the efforts for strengthening the role of the Parliament vis-à-vis 
the Government. Namely, the activities have been focused on supporting the 
Parliament to become equal partner to the Government or at least minimize 
the inequality gap between the two institutions. In order to be functional, any 
division of legislative, executive and judicial power needs to be based on 
existence of bodies with virtually equal political force and power as the only 
way for the institutions to exercise checks and balance, which, in turn, 
improves the overall functionality of the political system. The Macedonian 
Assembly is seen as significantly inferior partner compared to the executive 
power of the Government and as such has thus far failed to exercise effective 
control over the work of the Government, i.e. has not exerted sufficient 
pressure on the Government to be more responsible and effective in the 
process of preparation and execution of political decisions. As mentioned 
earlier, NDI has focused its work on strengthening the political capacity of the 
Parliament through several projects. One of the projects of NDI dealt with 
establishment of constituency offices for communication with citizens where 
the MPs were informed about the situation in the field, but also got exposed to 
citizens’ pressure to act in certain manner. In this manner, the MPs could also 
amplify their pressure on the Government for adequate action. 
 
The “Orientation Program for MPs” is another NDI project which aimed to 
inform the MPs about the essence of the work of the Assembly, the rights and 
responsibilities of the MPs and their important role in the overall political 
28
system. This program has built the overall capacities and improved the 
assertiveness of the MPs to become equal partners to the Government. 
The HDP project is another project being implemented in the U.S Congress in 
which NDI has only organizational and intermediary role. This program opens 
new horizons for the participants and improves not only the individual 
capacities of the MPs, but also contributes to building the overall professional 
capacities of the Parliament. 
A very important project is the Parliamentary Internship Program, which has 
raised the analytical and research capacity of the Assembly’s caucuses and 
commissions, and the Assembly as a whole. 
NDI has also implemented a project for introduction of oversight hearings in 
the legislative processes and helped in practical organization of the oversight 
hearings in the Assembly. The oversight hearings are particularly important 
for the development of the political system as they are instrumental for 
strengthening the role of the Parliament vis-à-vis the Government. Namely, 
the process of adoption of laws has thus far allowed for the Assembly to 
critically review and examine any proposal law submitted by the Government 
for adoption and in that manner exercise its control mechanism over the 
executive power. However, before the commencement of the NDI’s project, 
the control mechanisms were non-existent in the phase of implementation of 
the adopted laws. The oversight hearings introduced by NDI practically 
created new and strong control mechanisms for the Parliament to monitor the 
implementation of laws by the Government. 
The oversight hearings, however, cannot be expected to achieve immediate 
political effects due to the short period of their practicing as well as the lack of 
political will among the MPs of the ruling political parties to hold public 
hearings on sensitive issues and in more frequent intervals. Nonetheless, it is 
great achievement for its own right that this control mechanism has been 
introduced both in the legislation and in practice. This instrument is expected 
to be better utilized in the future once the ratio between the ruling and 
opposition political parties in the Parliament is changed and the political 
culture of citizens improves so that they can critically examine the 
Government policies in any given area. 
Certainly, a very important project is the one intended to strengthen the 
political status of the Assembly or its political will through changes in 
legislation. From formally legal aspect, the changes have taken place with the 
amendments of the Rules of Procedure (2008) and the adoption of the Law on 
Assembly (2009). The procedure for adoption of laws has introduced a 
novelty of three readings of laws before adoption. In this procedure, several 
working bodies participate, such as the originating working body and the 
legal-statutory commission. If any given law implies allocation of financial 
resources, the working body on budgetary-financial affairs becomes part of 
the process as well. The Assembly may also decide that a certain law should 
be accompanied with public hearing and for that purpose may assign a body 
in charge of the related public hearing affairs. The political will of the 
29
Assembly to strengthen its position vis-à-vis the executive power has been 
also demonstrated with introduction of a budget for the Assembly and the 
establishment of a Budgetary Council mandated to decide on all budgetary 
issues, as well by introducing public and oversight hearings. The Assembly 
has also introduced its own security service. 
The NDI’s project for establishment of Parliamentary Institute is aimed at 
strengthening the capacities of the Parliament by providing knowledge and 
skills that would be instrumental for the MPs to bring decisions and improve 
their position vis-à-vis the Government. 
 
The third area of work of NDI is linked with the democratization and 
strengthening of the political parties. The program for political parties has 
provided training for political party activists with the goal to improve their 
working knowledge and build their capacities to take own initiatives. This 
activity has increased the efficiency of work of the political parties in the 
political processes, which in turn improved the political competition. The 
improved political competition serves as a motif for the political parties to 
succeed on the political scene by recognizing the specific interests of the 
increasing number of social groups, which creates higher development 
assumptions for functioning of the overall political system. On the other hand, 
there is the fact that there are political parties in the Republic of Macedonia 
which are not democratic and the political party leadership assumes more 
dominant position compared to its membership. The improved knowledge, 
mobilization and motivation for action of the political party members 
contributes toward better and more organized inter-party dynamics, which 
leads to internal political party democratization and reduces the monopoly of 
the political leadership, i.e. the political party oligarchy or the party leader. 
The fourth area of work of NDI is the area of elections. The elections are 
considered a defining moment for any democracy. The elections secure 
legitimacy for execution of the power, which in turn implies that the specific 
interests of the various groups of citizens can be represented in the 
Parliament through the elected representatives while the elected politicians 
can be held accountable for the actions in their term-in- office. The choice of 
NDI to work in this area effectively addresses the bottlenecks in the electoral 
legislation and the electoral behaviour of the political parties and citizens. In 
this context, NDI initiated changes in the electoral legislation in order to 
increase the participation of women so that 1/3 of the elected MPs be women. 
These efforts have allowed for one important social group to make its social 
contribution, which has contributed to further democratization of the political 
processes and strengthening of the capacities of the Assembly and the overall 
political system. In addition, NDI implemented the project on open party lists. 
The idea for open party lists is linked with the need for democratization of the 
political processes, i.e. better competition within the political parties. This is for 
the reason that the MPs who feel they “owe” their MP status to the citizens 
rather than to the political party leadership are more inclined to act 
independently in the Assembly and take into account the needs of the citizens 
for their own political survival. This contributes to reduced monopoly over the 
decision-making by the political elites and leads to democratization of the 
30
relations within the political parties, the Assembly, and the overall political 
system. This initiative has not yielded actual results yet, i.e. the open party 
lists have not been translated into electoral legislation provisions. 
Notwithstanding, the idea for open party lists has triggered social debate 
about the importance that such novelty may bring about in the multi-party 
elections and the related positive results that may be yielded in the future. 
In addition to the changes and/or tendency for changes in the electoral 
legislation, NDI also worked on changing the electoral behaviour, i.e. 
overcoming the anomalies in the electoral process related to the attempts of 
some political parties to violate the electoral legitimacy by illegally trying and 
succeeding in getting more favourable electoral results. To address the issues 
at hand, NDI organized trainings for political party observers and facilitated 
the adoption of the Code for Free and Democratic Elections whereby the 
political parties committed themselves to behaving correctly during the 
elections. 
The fifth area of focus of NDI was related to gender legislation. The training 
provided for women MPs was focused on improving the gender legislation. In 
that context, several laws were adopted for improving the status of women in 
many areas of social life in the Republic of Macedonia. 
Certainly, we shall emphasize the commitment of NDI to create organization 
which will carry on their projects after their eventual termination of mission in 
RM, to which end NDI assisted in establishment, funding, training and 
operating of its legacies, MOST and IPD. 
A certain, but not a big number of indicators measuring the success of 
programs realized by NDI, more precisely measuring what changes have 
been undergone within the political system of the Republic of Macedonia can 
be applied within this Evaluation. It means, current changes can be identified 
in some situations such as the laws passed by the Assembly proposed as bills 
by the MPs, which had been previously proposed by the citizens or civic 
associations within the activities of the Constituency Offices. As well, some 
current changes can be identified in the field of gender legislation, where the 
women MPs have proposed bills, later on passed by the Assembly, intended 
to strengthen the social status of women. Indicators of success can be found 
in the attitudes of the MPs who have positively assessed the Internship 
Program, Orientation Program, HDP, training of women MPs and legislative 
changes, by which they regard the position of the Assembly in relation to the 
Government has been strengthened raising in that way the overall 
effectiveness of the political system in the Republic of Macedonia. The 
identical type of indicators can be seen in the attitudes of MPs who have 
positively assessed the Political Parties Program, regarding it has produced 
positive changes in the political parties’ activities in front of the citizens and in 
respect to the elections, both at the level of electoral legislation and pre￾election behaviour of the parties. A very relevant indicator for the 
strengthened position of the Assembly is the opinion of the citizens 
respondents within the annual USAID Survey, where averagely 34,4% of the 
respondents had trust or considered the work of the Assembly successful in 
31
the period 2001-2005, which percentage raised to 40,1% among the 
respondents having trust or finding the work of the Assembly successful in the 
period 2006-2009. It means that the level of trust of the citizens pertaining the 
functionality of the Assembly was raised visibly, although not dramatically. 
The impetus for the Assembly to undergo some changes could come from the 
reports of the European Commission which had the task to analyze the 
weaknesses in functioning of the state authorities in the Republic of 
Macedonia, including the Assembly, but the same impetus could come from 
the NDI projects, that are far more significant for the changes of the 
Assembly, because in addition to the impetus produced NDI had the skill and 
energy to conceive and put into operation the changes. 
Anyhow, objective indicators measuring the success of the changes is not 
easy to identify, because there are a myriad political changes within the 
political processes, influenced by many factors, and some of these changes 
do not cause any effect in a small course of time; to identify some other 
indicators we need a much longer project than this dealing with the NDI 
evaluation. Nevertheless, the projects carried out by NDI funded and 
programmatically supported by USAID are very significant for the 
development of the political system of RM, a part of them for making current 
changes in the political system, another part of them because of establishing 
institutions and practices relevant for the political system that will prove their 
values in future becoming a driving force of the system. It means success is 
attained by the projects of NDI. 
The success can be attributed to several factors, first of all, the carefully 
selected project areas and projects that were highly relevant for the intended 
changes in the political system of RM. The success of NDI’s projects can also 
be attributed to proper selection of activities and commensurate means for 
their achievement. The goals were achieved through various activities ranging 
from training delivery to various target groups including legislators and 
assistants in the constituency offices, to preparation of manuals, reforms in 
the legislation and other regulatory texts; transformations in the political 
practice, particularly the electoral behavior of the political parties. The success 
can also be credited to the appropriate technical and professional staff who 
worked on achievement of the goals. The allocation of sufficient financial 
resources towards achievement of the goals is another factor of success. The 
accomplishments of NDI are also linked with factors such as effective internal 
organization, high level of commitment for achievement of the goals, and 
flexibility, i.e. readiness to adapt the interventions to the prevailing 
circumstances in order to reach the goals. 
Finally, the overall analysis has not indicated existence of any substantial 
deficiencies in the program design and implementation nor has it pointed to 
any alternative paths that NDI should have taken in the first place. 
The topics in these projects which relates to the Macedonian legislation and 
practice that can be recommended to USAID while performing some other 
foreign missions are the constituent relations, public hearings, oversight 
hearings and the Code for Fair and Free Elections. 
32
2. RECOMMENDATIONS 
The evaluation has shown that all thematic areas and the related project 
activities are very important (Strengthening Constituent Relations, Legislative 
Practice, etc.) and they should continue in the future. This is particularly 
significant given the fact that on one hand, the capacity-building exercise is a 
long-term process; while on the other hand, the Assembly has been 
undergoing significant changes in the composition of legislators in every 
electoral period. In terms of the project Constituency Offices, which is being 
now conducted under IPD, and will be fully funded and maintained by the 
Assembly beyond 2012. it is recommended that NDI continues to cooperate 
as a consultant to IPD at this project in giving support to the Assembly. This 
for the reason that the Assembly is not yet fully equipped in organizational 
and financial terms to sustain the operation of the offices at the level that was 
maintained by NDI. On the other hand, the MPs expressed readiness to 
accept the changes promoted by the US entities. 
 
The professional status of the Constituency Offices assistants should be 
strengthened by their full time employment, at least during the mandate of 
their MPs. 
The project Assembly Open Days is recommended to take place in the 
ensuing period. 
The main recommendation is for all programmatic activities within this 
thematic area (Strengthening Legislative Practice) to continue in the future, in 
cooperation with the Assembly of RM. The interns should acquire a full time 
employment status in order to strengthen their work motivation and provide 
their further professional training and specialization. In terms of the legislation 
adopted by the Parliament, we recommend that research be conducted within 
a year to assess the negative and positive experiences from the 
implementation of the legislative changes. The ultimate legislative change 
should introduce mechanisms and criteria for dissolution of the Assembly, that 
will make it politically stronger and more responsible and accountable, which 
option can be found in many political systems of Parliamentarian type, 
including the British. 
 
The main recommendation is for all programmatic activities under this 
thematic area (Strengthening the Role of Women in Politics) to continue in the 
future. If the trainings are to be offered only to women candidates, it is 
advisable that the focus of the trainings should be on women’s issues which 
should be covered in the campaining process as well as the ways how women 
candidates should represent themselves in environments that have 
traditionally been reluctant to vote for women candidates. If the training topics 
are general, it is recommendable that some of them should be delivered 
jointly with men candidates for MPs so that to also sensitise the men on the 
gender issues and increase the feeling of equality. 
33
The main recommendation is that all programmatic activities from this 
thematic area (Strengthening Political Parties and Electoral Practice) should 
continue in the future. In view of the issues pertaining to political 
representation and the electoral process, it is recommended for NDI in the 
future to focus on the changes in the electoral model to achieve better 
involvement of minority communities. The changes should also envisage 
mechanisms for the political parties to be obliged to nominate candidates from 
the marginalized groups, thereby opening space for their representation. 
Taking into account the experience from the previous elections and the 
problems that have occurred hitherto, the recommendations would be for NDI 
to work towards making the provisions of the Code for Fair and Free Elections 
legally binding, which would mean for the provisions to be incorporated in the 
Election Law. This primarily refers to securing more equitable and just 
conditions for representation during the electoral campaign and more efficient 
control over the financing of the electoral campaigns. 
The strengthening of the political parties’ capacity is a project of a high 
relevance. In this context, a project improving the programs of political parties 
should be introduced that will further deal with the capacity building of the 
political parties’ members and activists. 
Considering the importance of the growth of civil society for any developed 
political system, particularly its benefits for the citizens, it is recommended for 
NDI to design a project for development of participatory political culture for the 
citizens through raising of their awareness about the political system and their 
role and modes to influence. Such project may help the people better 
articulate their interests before the legislators and be in the position not only to 
seek solution to their individual problems, but also to advocate for more 
principled and sustainable solutions at the level of legislation in the areas of 
economy, social welfare, real estate issues, functioning of the administration, 
the judicial system and other bodies and institutions. The long-term impact will 
be then seen on strengthening of the position of the Parliament in relation to 
the Government and other state bodies. The project may also tap on the 
potentials for public promotion of ideas and views via the mass media 
channels, as well as through specialized trainings with citizens. 
 
34
Section V ANNEX 
INSTRUMENTS FOR CONDUCTING THE FIELD RESEARCH 
USAID/NDI Project 
In -1 
Constituency Offices 
INTERVIEW 
WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ASSEMBLY 
OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA 
Respondent 
_____________ 
_____________ 
Constituency office 
________________ (town/municipality) 
1. Is the equipment in the constituency offices adequate to the 
functional needs of the offices? 
2. Do the assistants (associates) in the constituency offices perform 
their work in a quality manner? More specifically, are they: 
35
a) Selected based on objective criteria (is the best candidate selected?) 
b) Sufficiently competent to perform: 
b1) organizational activities 
b2) administrative activities 
b3) case work 
c) Sufficiently motivated to perform their tasks and duties 
d)Creative in performing their duties and to what extent? Do they 
contribute to improvement of the overall system and process of work in 
the constituency offices? 
3. How do you assess the consultations undertaken by NDI with you, the 
MPs, for your induction in the functioning of the constituency offices? 
4. How to you evaluate the role of NDI in the daily support for the 
constituency offices starting from the establishment of the constituency 
offices, through training of staff and further operation of the offices, i.e. 
coordination, control and daily management of the constituency offices 
up until the end of 2008? 
36
5. How many of the citizens in your constituency (people who gravitate 
towards your office) have been introduced with the terms of reference 
and manner of operation of the constituency offices? 
6. Are you aware of any inhibitions or reservations of the citizens who 
are followers or members of other political parties, other ethnic or 
religious communities to visit the constituency offices? 
7. Do the citizens trust or distrust the work of the constituency offices? 
37
8. Looking back one or two years, is there a trend of increase or 
decrease of the interest of the citizens to visit the constituency offices, 
and why? 
9. In your opinion, which are the most important issues, i.e. the 
development priorities of the Republic of Macedonia? 
10. Which are the most frequently treated issues in communication with 
the citizens? 
38
11. Have you, in your work as a MP, made selection or rejection of the 
issues of relevance to the citizens on the grounds of your thinking that 
some of the issues were not important or would not be likely to be 
accepted by the Parliament or the Government for their action? 
12. Have you as an MP informed the citizens back about the actions you 
had taken to meet their requirements? 
13. In terms of citizens cases assistance or intervention from your 
office, some of the cases have been closed, and some have not been 
closed. Why are there still open cases? 
39
14.What is the average time for processing/finalization of a case in the 
constituency offices? 
15. In your opinion, which are the main benefits for the development of 
the political system from the establishment and operation of the 
constituency offices? 
16. Are there any weaknesses (bottlenecks) identified in the operation of 
the constituency offices? Can you pinpoint the bottlenecks and explain 
to which extent they affect the operation of the constituency offices? 
17. What is your assessment of the work of the constituency offices 
from the point of view of their importance for the development of the 
overall political system in the RM: 
a) Very important for the development of the political system of RM 
b) Important for the development of the political system of RM 
c) Somewhat important for the development of the political system of 
RM 
d) Not very important for the development of the political system of RM 
40
18. Will the taking over of the constituency offices by the Parliament of 
RM affect the quality of work of the offices: how and why? 
19. In your opinion, what should be done in future to improve the 
functionality of the constituency offices? 
20. In your opinion, what should be done to secure sustainability of the 
project? In other words, does this project have elements of 
sustainability as such? 
21.What is the political importance of the Assembly Open Days? 
41
USAID/NDI Project 
In -2 
Strengthening Legislative Practice 
INTERVIEW 
WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ASSEMBLY 
OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA AND OTHER 
STATE AND PARTY OFFICIALS 
Respondent 
_____________ 
_____________ 
_______________ Party 
In - 2a 
Parliamentary Internship Program 
1.How have the participants of this program (training) been selected in 
the period 1995-2005 
-Was it an intra-party selection or the selection was based upon criteria 
established by NDI 
42
2.Was the training conceived well enough to improve the knowledge and 
skills of its participants, particularly in respect to their research 
capacities? 
3.Did the training have a positive impact on the functionality of the 
Assembly? 
4. What were the areas where the participants had the least knowledge 
prior to the training or which were the areas where the training improved 
the knowledge of the participants the most? 
5. Was the training attended by members of various political parties 
established more cooperative relations among them i.e. did the training 
have an impact in decreasing the political animosity among some 
parties? 
43
6. Generally, what are the accomplishments of the training organized by 
NDI 
7. Could the training be characterized by some substantial weaknesses 
in terms that it had not been conceived well, performed well or it tended 
to pay much attention to some irrelevant details? 
8.Generally speaking, did the training give its contribution to the 
development of the political system, and to what extent 
a)Little 
b)Considerable 
9.How do you assess the role of NDI in the process of training, or their 
readiness to improve the quality of training, to meet the real 
professional requirements of the training participants, their proficiency 
in conducting training and provision of sufficient financial resources for 
successful completion of the training ? 
 
44
In - 2b 
Orientation Program for MPs 
1.To what extent does the Manual Representing the People contain 
useful information dealing with professional work of the MPs? 
2.To what extent was the Manual Representing the People distributed 
and used among the MPs ? 
3.Was the one day training session devoted to the new MPs (September 
2006) well organized and useful to them ? 
In - 2c 
House Democratic Partnership (HDP) 
1.How have the participants of this partnership been selected in the 
period on the Macedonian side (12 MPs) 
-Was it an intra-party choice or the selection was based upon criteria 
established by NDI 
 
45
2.Have the study trips to USA improved the professional knowledge and 
skills of the participants of this Program 
3.Did the study trips to USA have a positive impact on the functionality 
of the Assembly ? 
4.What were the most significant topic areas of the program that 
improved the knowledge of the participants ? 
5. Was the Program attended by members of various political parties 
established more cooperative relations among them i.e. did it have an 
impact in decreasing the political animosity among some parties? 
46
6. Generally, what are the accomplishments of the training organized by 
NDI 
7. Could the visit trips to USA be characterized by some substantial 
weaknesses in terms that it had not been conceived well, performed well 
or it tended to pay much attention to some irrelevant details ? 
8.Generally speaking, did visit trips to USA give their contribution to the 
development of the political system, and to what extent 
a)Little 
b)Considerable 
9.How do you assess the role of NDI in this project ? 
47
In 2d 
RULES OF PROCEDURE AND THE LAW ON PARLIAMENT 
1.In the period 2008 - 2009 some amendments on the Rules of Procedure 
and the Law on Parliament were passed under the initiative of NDI. Did 
some articles of these two documents cause some disagreement among 
the political parties? 
2.Were there some problems in the process of their passing and what 
type of problems if they occurred ? 
3.To what extent did these documents raise the functionality of the 
Assembly and have an impact on the development of the overall political 
system in RM? 
4.How do you assess the role of NDI in the entire process of preparation 
and passing of these documents? 
In - 2e 
PUBLIC AND OVERSIGHT HEARINGS 
1.Was and to what extent the training over the MPs and administrative 
staff of the Assembly useful to the attendants? 
48
a)Little 
b)Considerable 
2.To what extent does the Manual on Public Hearings contain useful 
information dealing with professional work of the MPs ? 
3.To what extent was the Manual on Public Hearings distributed and 
used among the MPs ? 
4.According to you what were the significant benefits of the Assembly 
public hearings? 
5.To what extent did the public hearings have an impact on the 
functionality of the Assembly and public promotion? 
49
6. Could this project of NDI be characterized by some substantial 
weaknesses? 
7.How do you assess the role of NDI in this project? 
8. According to you, what are the main benefits of the oversight 
hearings 
9.To what extent did the oversight hearings have an impact on the 
functionality of the Assembly and public promotion? 
50
10. Could this project of NDI be characterized by some substantial 
weaknesses? 
11.How do you assess the role of NDI in this project? 
12.What are the crucial weaknesses of the legislation regulating the role 
of the Assembly and which laws and law provisions should be passed in 
order to strengthen its political status? 
51
USAID/NDI Project 
In -3 
Strengthening the Role of Women in Politics 
INTERVIEW 
WITH THE WOMEN REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA 
Respondent 
_____________ 
_____________ 
_______________ Party 
52
In - 3a 
The Parliamentary Women’s Club 
1.Over 20 trainings over the women MPs dealing with strategic planning, 
strategy in legislation, gender legislation, communication skills, etc. 
were conducted after the establishment of the Women’s Club. Was the 
training conceived well enough to improve the knowledge and skills of 
the women MPS in performance of their professional tasks 
 
2.Did the trainings have a positive impact on the functionality of the 
Assembly, and to what extent? 
a)Little 
b)Considerable 
3. Were the trainings and the overall activities of the Women’s Club 
attended by members of various political parties established more 
cooperative relations among them i.e. did they have an impact in 
decreasing of the political animosity among some parties? 
4. Generally, what are the accomplishments of the training organized by 
NDI 
53
5. What were the areas where the participants had the least knowledge 
prior to the training? Did the organizer pay a sufficient attention to these 
areas while designing the program? 
6. Could the trainings be characterized by some substantial weaknesses 
in terms that it had not been conceived well, performed well or it tended 
to pay much attention to some irrelevant details? 
7. Generally speaking, did the training give its contribution to the 
development of the political system, and to what extent? 
A) Little 
B) Considerable 
54
8.How do you assess the role of NDI in the process of trainings and 
generally in the overall activities of the Assembly Women’s Club, or 
their readiness to improve the quality of trainings, to meet the real 
professional requirements of the training participants, their proficiency 
in conducting training and provision of sufficient financial resources for 
successful completion of the training ? 
 
In 3b 
Changes to the Law on Elections 
1. Who was the initiator to pass the amendments to the Law on 
Elections in 2006 where 30% of women candidates on the political 
parties’ lists were introduced? 
2. Did some amendments of this law cause some disagreement among 
the political parties? 
55
3. Did these amendments of the Law on Election make an advancement 
in the electoral process, by it in the political system of RM as a whole, in 
respect that the enhanced representation of women is paving the way 
higher professional energy of the entire population to be involved in the 
political processes 
4. On contrary, as a result of the new legal regulation, can it happen in 
the political processes to have higher involvement of women that are 
less competent than men in performance of their professional tasks and 
duties? 
5. How do you assess the role of NDI in the entire process of preparation 
and passing of these amendments? 
56
In 3c 
Passing amendments to other laws 
1.Assembly Women’s Club have an active commitment to pass some 
amendments in other areas dealing with the rights of women, such as 
the areas of labour law, health insurance law, family law, etc. What do 
you regard to be the main benefits and weaknesses of these 
amendments? 
2. What is the importance of these amendments to the overall legal 
system of RM? 
a)Little 
b)Considerable 
3. Did some of these amendments cause disagreement among the 
political parties? 
57
4. How do you assess the role of NDI in the entire process of preparation 
and passing of these amendments? 
In 3d 
Prospective Women Parliamentary Candidates 
1. In the course of 2006 NDI initiated training for women candidates that 
would participate at the parliamentary elections the same year. Was the 
training conceived well enough to improve the knowledge and skills of 
the women MPS in performance of their professional tasks? 
2. What were the areas where the participants had the least knowledge 
prior to the training? Did the organizer pay a sufficient attention to these 
areas while designing the program? 
3. Could the trainings be characterized by some substantial weaknesses 
in terms that it had not been conceived well, performed well or it tended 
to pay much attention to some irrelevant details? 
58
4. Generally speaking, did the training give its contribution to the 
development of the political system, and to what extent? 
a)Little 
b)Considerable 
5.How do you assess the role of NDI in the process of trainings and 
generally in the overall activities of the Assembly Women’s Club, or 
their readiness to improve the quality of trainings, to meet the real 
professional requirements of the training participants, their proficiency 
in conducting training and provision of sufficient financial resources for 
successful completion of the training ? 
 
59
USAID/NDI Project 
In -4a 
Democratic Legacy IPD 
INTERVIEW 
WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE INSTITUTE 
FOR PARLIAMENTARIAN DEMOCRACY (IPD) 
Respondent 
_____________ 
_____________ 
_____________ 
1.What are the sources of funds of IPD 
2.Number of employees and their arrangement by areas 
60
3.How was the staff selected? 
a)According to which criteria ? 
b)Who made the selection? 
4.Are the employees adequately trained? 
a)Who organized and conducted the trainings? 
b)Which were the areas (topics) of trainings? 
c)Duration of training 
5.Are the employees sufficiently motivated for performance of their 
duties? 
6.Are the employees creative in performing their tasks, i.e. do they 
contribute to improvement of the overall system and process of work? 
7.Is the IPD equipment adequate for the operational needs 
61
8.What is your assessment of the role of NDI in the operation of IPD? 
a)Establishment of the organization 
b)Securing financial assistance for your activities 
c)Professional support for your activities 
d)Assisting in your promotion and provision of relevant information for your 
work (financial resources, possible partners etc) 
9. In its relations towards IPD, has NDI exhibited any omissions or 
weaknesses, and if yes, which are they? 
62
USAID/NDI Project 
In -4b 
Democratic Legacy MOST 
INTERVIEW 
WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CITIZENS’ 
ASSOCIATION MOST 
Respondent 
_____________ 
_____________ 
_____________ 
1.What are the sources of funds of MOST 
2.Number of employees and their arrangement by areas 
63
3.How was the staff selected? 
a)According to which criteria ? 
b)Who made the selection? 
4.Are the employees adequately trained? 
a)Who organized and conducted the trainings? 
b)Which were the areas (topics) of the trainings? 
c)Duration of training 
5.Are the employees sufficiently motivated for performance of their 
duties? 
6.Are the employees creative in performing their tasks, i.e. do they 
contribute to improvement of the overall system and process of work? 
64
7.Is the MOST equipment adequate for the operational needs 
8.What is your assessment of the role of NDI in the operation of MOST? 
a)Establishment of the organization 
b)Securing financial assistance for your activities 
c)Professional support for your activities 
d)Assisting in your promotion and provision of relevant information for your 
work (financial resources, possible partners etc) 
9. In its relations towards MOST, has NDI exhibited any omissions or 
weaknesses, and if yes, which are they? 
65
USAID/NDI Project 
In -5 
Political Parties and Electoral Practice 
INTERVIEW 
WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ASSEMBLY 
OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA AND 
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES IN 
RM 
Respondent 
_____________ 
_____________ 
_______________ Party 
In - 5a 
66
NDI Macedonia Political Party Program 
1. How have the participants of this program (training) been selected in 
the period 1995-2005? 
-Was it an intra-party selection or the selection was based upon criteria 
established by NDI 
2. Was the training conceived well enough to improve the knowledge 
and skills of its participants in the process of their political operation? 
3. Did the training improve the organization and functioning of the 
political parties and to what extent, i.e. could the political parties after 
the training of their participants provide more effective acting and better 
political programs at the political stage of RM? 
4. Did the training sessions (2002-2006) include a sufficient number of 
political parties’ members to have a considerable effect to the 
development of the political parties providing the training was 
successful? 
67
5. Was the training attended by members of various political parties 
established more cooperative relations among them i.e. did the training 
have an impact in decreasing the political animosity among some 
parties? 
6. Generally, what are the accomplishments of the training organized by 
NDI 
7. What were the areas where the participants had the least knowledge 
prior to the training or which were the areas where the training improved 
the knowledge of the participants the most? 
68
8. Could the training be characterized by some substantial weaknesses 
in terms that it had not been conceived well, performed well or it tended 
to pay much attention to some irrelevant details? 
9. Generally speaking, did the training give its contribution to the 
development of the political system, and to what extent? 
a)Little 
b)Considerable 
10.How do you assess the role of NDI in the process of training, or their 
readiness to improve the quality of training, to meet the real 
professional requirements of the training participants, their proficiency 
in conducting training and provision of sufficient financial resources for 
successful completion of the training? 
 
In - 5b 
Poll Watchers 
1.How have the participants of this program (training) been selected in 
the period 1995-2005? 
69
-Was it an intra-party selection or the selection was based upon criteria 
established by NDI? 
2.To which topic areas was paid the most attention in the training of poll 
watchers? 
3.Was the training conceived well enough to improve the knowledge and 
skills of its participants, particularly in respect to their research 
capacities? 
4.Did the training sessions (2002-2006) include a sufficient number of 
political parties’ members to have a considerable effect to the 
development of the political parties providing the training was 
successful? 
70
5. Was the training attended by members of various political parties 
established more cooperative relations among them i.e. did the training 
have an impact in decreasing the political animosity among some 
parties? 
6. Could the training be characterized by some substantial weaknesses 
in terms that it had not been conceived well, performed well or it tended 
to pay much attention to some irrelevant details? 
7.Generally speaking, did the training give its contribution to the 
development of the political system, and to what extent? 
a)Little 
b)Considerable 
8.How do you assess the role of NDI in the process of training, or their 
readiness to improve the quality of training, to meet the real 
professional requirements of the training participants, their proficiency 
in conducting training and provision of sufficient financial resources for 
successful completion of the training? 
 
71
In 5c 
Code of Conduct for Fair and Free Elections 
Parliamentary elections 2006 
Parliamentary elections 2008 
Presidential and Local elections 2009 
1.Who was the initiator to pass the Code? 
2. Did some articles of this document cause a disagreement among the 
political parties? 
3.Were there some problems in the process of its passing? 
72
4.To what extent is the Code for Fair and Free Elections significant as a 
document that introduces a good political practice during the elections? 
a)Little 
b)Considerable 
5.Did the Code exert an influence over some political parties to impose 
their sympathizers, members and activists refrain from illegal activities 
during the elections? 
6.Did the signing of the Code create a better political climate /improve 
the relations/ among the political parties? 
7.Were some articles of the Code incorporated in the Law on Elections? 
73
8.Generally speaking, was by the adoption of the Code made a big step 
forwards in the electoral process, and wider in the political system of 
RM as a whole 
9.How do you assess the role of NDI in the entire process of its adoption 
or signing by the political parties and its implementation, i.e. following 
of the elections? 
In - 5d 
Changes to the Electoral Law 
1.NDI initiated some amendments in the Law on Elections. What do you 
regard to be the main achievements and weaknesses of these 
amendments? 
2.What is the significance of these amendments to the electoral 
legislation and the political system of RM as a whole? 
74
3.A gathering is organized discussing the open and closed party lists. 
Which type of party list during elections is supported by your political 
party? 
4.How do you assess the role of NDI in the process of electoral 
legislation changes? 
Prepared by: Prof. Dr. Ilija Todorovski