Macedonian organization Subversive Front kicked off last week the campaign “Vote for equality” in light of the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for 11 December. The aim of the campaign is to promote the inclusion of LGBTI equality in the agendas of political parties.
Before the start of the campaign, meetings were held with political parties whose representatives answered the questionnaire on LGBTI inclusion in their programs. The questionnaire, which was distributed to all political parties, was answered only by 5 of them. At the same time, the association made an analysis of the election programs of all political parties, in order to evaluate the extent to which LGBTI issues are covered by them.
According to Antonio Mihajlov, President at Subversive Front “political parties address LGBTI issues and problems to a very small extent. They can be found in the programs of leftist parties and it is only in the programs of smaller political parties where they are included to the highest extent. This is the result of dominant hetero-patriarchal norms which prevail in Macedonian society and this is reflected in the political parties, who fear that they will lose part of the voters. With this campaign we want to make the public aware of the needs and problems concerning LGBTI people, and to encourage political parties to start considering the LGBTI community as a strong voter base which they need to include in their political agenda.”  
On 5 December the association will host the first national LGBTI conference on the subject of political participation for LGBTI people. Representatives of all political parties will be invited to attend and voice their position on the subject. At the event proposed amendments to the Law on Protection and Prevention against Discrimination and the Criminal Code, in order to include SOGI related terms and identities will be submitted to representatives of relevant ministries and national human rights institutions.
The campaign is supported by Sarajevo Open Centre, Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute and Labris and is part of a wider strategy to encourage political participation of LGBTI people in Macedonia.