The State Election Commission (DIK) has decided - 107.2 million denars will go directly to 11 municipalities with frozen bank accounts. The money is for members of the municipal election commissions and polling boards who worked the local elections in 2025 and 2026.

The money is months late. The local elections were held on 19 October 2025, with a runoff on 2 November 2025. A repeat ballot in four municipalities followed on 11 January 2026. Ever since, members of polling boards have been waiting for fees the municipalities could not pay - because their bank accounts were frozen.

The 11 affected municipalities are: Aračinovo, Delčevo, Pehčevo, Tetovo, Struga, Krivogaštani, Vasilevo, Želino, Gostivar, Vrapčište and Zrnovci. Different regions. Different majorities. Same problem - the municipalities have no money even for obligations written into law.

DIK chairman Bojan Maričić summed up the decision briefly: „The funds have been transferred to the State Election Commission by decision of the Government." In other words - this money is not coming from DIK's budget. It is coming from the government, through DIK, to the municipalities.

The question nobody is talking about - why are 11 municipalities running on frozen accounts? Local elections are a core state function. If municipalities cannot pay the people who actually run the elections, that is a sign that local-level finances are in serious disarray. And the fix - the government directly wiring money - is a temporary patch, not a reform.

What happens at the next elections? The same 11 municipalities, the same problem, the same fix. That means the state is in effect paying for every local election twice - once through the DIK budget, a second time through „special decisions" for blocked municipalities. And citizens are paying tax for a system that officially refuses to admit it has collapsed.