39 percent. That is the average openness score of Macedonia's 81 local government units according to the 2026 Openness Index - one percentage point lower than last year. The index was produced by the Metamorphosis Foundation and the Rural Coalition, and the results were presented at a themed forum at the Civic Resource Centre in Skopje on September 25.

Kriva Palanka tops the list with 73 percent, followed by Demir Hisar with 68, Kochani with 67 and Karposh with 64 percent. All four use the digital platform mZaednica, where citizens report local problems, communicate with the municipality and take part in surveys and public consultations.

The Centre for Social Innovation Blink 42-21, which develops the platform, points to the results as context for its three years of work with municipalities. But the index does not establish that the app is the reason for the better scores - openness is measured across a range of practices in how a municipality works, not through a single digital tool. mZaednica currently runs in 11 municipalities, and the next challenge, the organisation says, is making sure citizens get a clear answer about what happened to their reports and proposals.

"An open municipality is one where citizens are informed in time, but can also ask, take part, have influence and demand accountability," said Metamorphosis programme director Danche Danilovska-Bajdevska.

That is the standard. The reality is that the average municipality doesn't even reach half of it - and last year it was slightly more open than this year. When the best scores 73 and the average 39, the question isn't what kind of app we need. The question is why so many municipalities still treat citizens like supplicants queuing at a counter, rather than people they owe an answer to?