Launching Political-Billboards.mk 2025 – Platform for Monitoring Local Elections

This post was originally published on this site.

We are proud to announce the launch of the upgraded platform Political-Billboards.mk, now adapted for local elections monitoring in North Macedonia.

This platform continues the work started during the 2020 parliamentary and 2021 local elections, when IMPETUS first mapped and analysed political billboard advertising across the country, including locations, messages and financial transparency.

With the new version for the 2025 local elections, the platform becomes an even more powerful tool for transparency, accountability and public oversight.

What is Political-Billboards.mk?

Political-Billboards.mk is an online platform that:

• Maps locations of political billboards and outdoor ads used during election campaigns
• Documents who is advertising, where, and with what messages
• Provides analyses, infographics and publications about political advertising practices, funding and regulation
• Allows citizens to report problematic billboards (e.g. hate speech, “black campaigns”, improper placement, or violations of the Electoral Code)

In short, it turns what used to be “silent” outdoor advertising into visible, searchable and analysable data.

Why this matters for local elections

Local elections often feel “closer to home” – they shape the streets we walk, the services we receive and the communities we live in. Yet billboard advertising at local level is one of the least transparent parts of the campaign:

• Large sums are spent on outdoor ads, but it is often unclear who paid, how much, and whether rules are being followed.
• Content can include disinformation, smear campaigns or gender-based attacks, especially against women in politics.
• Billboards sometimes appear in unsafe or unlawful locations, affecting public space and safety.

By systematically monitoring this segment, the platform:

• Helps journalists, CSOs and watchdogs follow the money and spot irregularities
• Supports institutions (SEC, SCPC, local authorities, oversight bodies) with additional evidence and open data
• Empowers citizens to question who is behind each message they see on the street

How it works

On Political-Billboards.mk, users can:

• Browse interactive maps of political billboards and outdoor ads
• Filter by election, municipality, political actor or time period
• View infographics and short explainers summarising key findings from monitoring
• Access publications and reports on political billboard financing, regulation and practice
• Submit photos and GPS locations of billboards from their own city or neighbourhood using the built-in reporting form

All collected data is reviewed, categorised and used for aggregate analysis, not for targeting individuals.

Why this platform is important

The new version of Political-Billboards.mk is important because it:

• Strengthens transparency in political finance and campaign practices
• Supports fair competition by discouraging hidden spending and misuse of outdoor media
• Protects democratic debate by highlighting harmful or illegal content (hate speech, “black campaigns”, attacks on women and minorities)
• Turns citizens into watchdogs, making it easy for everyone to contribute evidence
• Provides long-term data that researchers, journalists and institutions can use to improve regulation and practice over time

In a context where trust in institutions and politics is fragile, transparent and accountable campaigning is a basic condition for meaningful democracy.

Get involved

We invite:

• Citizens to visit the platform, explore the map and report billboards from their communities
• Journalists and CSOs to use the data and analyses in their investigations and advocacy
• Institutions and regulators to engage with the findings and help improve the rules and enforcement around political advertising

Visit the platform: https://political-billboards.mk
Together, we can make political advertising more transparent, fair and accountable – starting from our own streets.