Skopje, March 23 (MIA) - The first round of Sunday’s presidential and mayoral election in Macedonia met most international standards, the OSCE/ODIHR observer mission said on Monday.

- The first round, despite some issues of concern, represents an important step forward. We will be watching closely for continued progress in the second round," said Peter Eicher, head of the OSCE's election monitoring arm, the ODIHR, said.

The elections were well administered and free of the violent incidents that clouded last year's parliamentary elections. Election day was peaceful and the voting process was generally well managed, although there were procedural irregularities and the counting process was assessed less positively, the OSCE/ODIHR report reads.

- It is a pleasure for me to see that this country has made a number of steps along the democratic road that it returned to during the rerun of the elections last summer. Irregularities and a lack of trust remain - and these must be dealt with - but there is no doubt that you have made further progress in holding elections according to international commitments, said OSCE PA Vice President Pia Christmas-Moller, Special Co-ordinator appointed to lead the short-term OSCE observer mission. /lk/fd/15:50

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