Criminal Offenses against voting rights

• Pages: 77-86

77

Balkan Journal of

Interdisciplinary Research

E-ISSN 2411-9725

ISSN 2410-759X

Vol.10 No.1

May, 2024

Criminal Oenses against voting rights

Angjelina Marleku-Ademi

“Don Bosco” School of Pristina, Kosovo

DOI: hps://doi.org/10.2478/bjir-2024-0007

Abstract

The right to choose as a political right dates back to the ancient times of humankind. The

right to choose in its beginnings was in a narrow circle of people. It did not include the entire

political, economic and social spectrum, but dierent groups, classes and interests. The saying

can be that there were no real elections.

Even Kosovo, in the history of its political development, dates the right to universal and equal

surage after the Second World War. However, those elections were never free and not even

based on the will of citizens to be elected and to vote. The candidates for election were the

favorites of the occupying and monist power. The monistic one-party system, as such, by itself

could not oer even an approximate opportunity to hold free and democratic elections.

In fact, the right to free and democratic elections for the rst time was sanctioned and

implemented in the rst elections for the Republic of Kosovo institutions (Constitutional

Framework, 2001).

This paper aims to explore dierent aspects of the complex phenomenon of criminal oenses

against voting rights, in order to raise the level of treatment of this phenomenon in Kosovo’s

society. The organization of free and democratic elections and their success is one of the key

points of evaluation of new democracies, considering that free elections are the foundation of

a democratic society. Conceiving that this process is related to the quality of life of the voter,

to the perspective of society and the development of the country in general.

Keywords: Election, Democratic, Kosovo, Phenomenon, development, Justice.

1. Introduction

Until today, in criminal legislation and legal literature, we do not have any complete

denition of the notion of criminal oenses against voting rights. This is because

these criminal oenses in countries with developed democracies are either few or

completely absent, as well as due to the fact that the authors of the criminal law in

the scientic treatment of these criminal oenses have taken relatively lile (Hajdari,

2015). A new and clearer denition of these criminal oenses has recently been made,

1

Vol. 9 No.2

September, 2023

Balkan Journal of Interdisciplinary Research

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

E-ISSN 2411-9725

ISSN 2410-759X

Research Article

© 2023 Ardita Abazi Imeri

This is an open access article licensed under the Creative Commons

Aribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

(hps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)

Deliberating in the Gray Zone: North Macedonia’s Hybrid Regime and

Deliberative Democracy Exercise

Ardita Abazi Imeri

European Policy Institute (EPI) – Skopje

DOI: hps://doi.org/10.2478/bjir-2023-0001

Abstract

Deliberative polling has emerged as a promising method for promoting democratic reform

and citizen engagement in various contexts, however, its potential and limitations in hybrid

regimes, where democratic governance is challenged by a mix of democratic and authoritarian

features, remain relatively unexplored. This paper focuses on the case of North Macedonia,

as a country that has undergone signicant political and societal transformation especially in

the recent years. Despite eorts to promote democratic reforms, the country continues to face

challenges in terms of ensuring democratic governance and citizen participation. In a hybrid

regime, like North Macedonia’s, political leaders might not be inclined to value citizens’

input, and the media environment might not be free from inuence, which limits access to

varied and reliable sources of information. Civil society organizations may also encounter

limitations on their operations, and institutional assistance may be insucient. Additionally,

the population’s diversity could make it dicult to reach and build trust with citizens. In

this context, deliberative polling represents an opportunity to engage citizens in meaningful

political dialogue and institutional reform. This paper examines the potential of deliberative

polling as a tool for promoting governance in North Macedonia and highlights the challenges

and limitations faced in this process.

Keywords: deliberative poll, hybrid regime, authoritarian, democracy.

1. Introduction

Democracy around the world is in crisis. In general, the state of democracy world-

wide indicates a lack of progress (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2022). Looking at the

global picture, 2022 fell short of expectations for democracy, as it was anticipated that

the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions might result in an improvement in the

overall score. Both the Freedom House Report 2022 and the Economist Intelligence

Unit’s Democracy Index (EIU) 2022 indicate that the state of democracy around the

world is facing signicant challenges and setbacks.

Research Article

© 2024 Angjelina Marleku-Ademi

This is an open access article licensed under the Creative Commons

Aribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

(hps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)