North Macedonians are heading to the polls for the primary spherical of presidential elections on Wednesday, adopted by a second spherical on Might 8.
Pendarovski, the present president of North Macedonia, whose candidacy for a second time period is supported by the pro-EU ruling Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), and Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, candidate of the opposition conservative occasion VMRO DPMNE, are at the moment favored to succeed in the second spherical.
Critics of the media legislation modification say state promoting can limit press freedom by leaving media retailers financially depending on the federal government, resulting in self-censorship and biased reporting.
It can be used as a instrument to reward or punish media retailers based mostly on their protection of presidency actions, which finally creates a hostile atmosphere for unbiased journalism and undermines the watchdog position of the press, one main home journalist mentioned.
“It’s an try to return state promoting to the media earlier than the elections,” Mladen Čadikovski, president of North Macedonia’s Affiliation of Journalists, advised POLITICO. “All that’s carried out by way of a shortened process and by abusing the European flag,” he mentioned, including that the modification was falsely offered as complying with EU media legal guidelines, which the candidate nation must undertake finally if it turns into a member of the bloc.
Brussels opened accession negotiations with North Macedonia in July 2022.