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North Macedonia portal |
Presidential elections were held in North Macedonia on 24 April 2024. No candidate received a majority of votes in the first round, so a second round will be held on 8 May 2024, alongside parliamentary elections. [1] [2] Incumbent Stevo Pendarovski is eligible for re-election.
The President of North Macedonia is elected using a modified two-round system; a candidate can only be elected in the first round of voting if they receive the equivalent of over 50% of the vote from all registered voters. [3] In the second round, voter turnout must be at least 40% for the result to be deemed valid. [4] Before 2009, the constitution required turnout in the second round to be 50% to validate the result. However, the XXXI amendment approved on 9 January 2009 lowered the threshold to 40%, [4] as the then-government feared the trend of reducing turnouts would lead to presidential elections being frequently invalidated. In the 2009 presidential elections, second round turnout was just 42.6%. [5]
In order to contest the election, potential candidates are required to collect signatures from at least 10,000 registered voters or 30 MPs. [6]
The constitution mandates that the President must be over 40 years of age and have lived in the country for ten of the last fifteen years.
Campaigning began on 4 April 2024. [7]
Ballot position [8] | Candidate | Affiliation | Declared intent to run | Signatures collected/endorsements [9] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Stevo Pendarovski (incumbent) | SDSM [a] | 28 February 2024 [12] | 22,413 | |
2. | Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova | VMRO-DPMNE [b] | 22 February 2024 [14] | 30 MPs | |
3. | Stevčo Jakimovski | GROM [c] | 21 February 2024 [16] | 11,292 | |
4. | Bujar Osmani | Democratic Union for Integration [d] | 22 February 2024 [18] | 11,085 | |
5. | Biljana Vankovska | Independent [e] | 7 February 2024 [19] | 10,568 | |
6. | Arben Taravari | Alliance for Albanians [f] | 15 February 2024 [20] | 10,708 | |
7. | Maksim Dimitrievski | ZNAM | 22 February 2024 [21] | 11,605 |
Candidate | Affiliation | Declared intent to run | Signatures collected [22] | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Velo Markovski | Independent [a] | 19 October 2023 [23] | 1,668 | |
Gospodin Poposki | Independent | 15 February 2024 [24] | 147 | |
Gjorgji Manaskov | Independent | 16 February 2024 [25] | 496 | |
Mersiha Smailović | Bosniak Democratic Union | 21 February 2024 [26] | 3,246 | |
Zorica Cvetkovska | Desna [27] | 24 February 2024 [28] | 293 | |
Goce Ristov | Independent | 4 March 2024 [29] | 6 | |
Dragan Nikolovski | Independent | 6 March 2024 [30] | 8 |
Candidate | Affiliation | Declared intent to run | Dropped out | Signatures collected (23 February) [31] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tome Nikoloski | Independent | 15 May 2023 [32] | 23 February 2024 [33] | 0 |
Stevo Pendarovski supports revising the constitution to include recognition of a Bulgarian minority in North Macedonia, a condition set by Bulgaria to allow the country's accession to the European Union. Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova calls for negotiations with the EU under a new framework and for such amendments to be made after North Macedonia attains EU membership. Pendarovski calls on fighting corruption through taking on organized criminal groups, while Siljanovska-Davkova focused on the judiciary in her anti-corruption stance. [34] [35]
Following the first round, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova said "the hour has come for this government to go" [36] and described the results as a "new course". She also called on voters to prove "that we have always (belonged to) Europe". Stevo Pendarovski expressed surprise and disappointment with the result, but expressed hope for improvement in the second round, including with the support of the Albanian community. [37] [38]
The Democratic Union for Integration, which represents ethnic Albanians and is led by former Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, offered its support in the second round to any candidate who supports having the President selected by the Assembly of North Macedonia in future elections, in the hopes of having an ethnic Albanian attaining the office. However, both Pendarovski and Siljanovska-Davkova have dismissed the proposal, saying it is democratic for the Presidency to be selected through direct voting. [38]
Polling in the first round opened at 07:00 on 24 April and lasted until 19:00 at 3,480 polling stations nationwide. About 1.8 million people were eligible to vote, while around 320 international observers monitored the proceedings. [39] [38]
Polling firm | Date | Sample size |
|||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pendarovski | Siljanovska | Taravari | Osmani | Dimitrievski | Vankovska | Jakimovski | |||
SDSM | VMRO-DPMNE | ASh | BDI | ZNAM | Levica | GROM | |||
Election Results | 24 Apr 2024 | 905,937 | 20.5 | 41.2 | 9.5 | 13.7 | 9.5 | 4.7 | 0.9 |
IPIS | Apr 2024 | 1,200 | 23.8 | 39.0 | 10.7 | 11.5 | 7.7 | 5.5 | 1.6 |
CRPC | 8–13 Apr 2024 | 1,210 | 28.8 | 35.0 | 13.6 | 11.5 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 2.1 |
МКД.мк | 15–24 Mar 2024 | 1,200 | 19.8 | 36.5 | 10.5 | 14.3 | 12.1 | 4.9 | 1.5 |
CRPC | 4–7 Mar 2024 | 1,085 | 29.3 | 35.5 | 14.3 | 9.6 | 5.1 | 4.3 | 2.0 |
IPIS [a] | 20 Feb 2024 | 1,212 | 22.3 | 39.2 | 13.4 [b] | 12.2 | 5.8 | 6.4 | – |
2019 election | – | 44.8 | 44.2 | 11.1 [c] | – | – | – | – |
Polling firm | Date | Sample size |
||
---|---|---|---|---|
Pendarovski | Siljanovska | |||
SDSM | VMRO-DPMNE | |||
МКД.мк | 15–24 Mar 2024 | 1,200 | 44.2 | 55.8 |
2019 election | – | 53.6 | 46.4 |
99.91% reporting | ||||
Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova | VMRO-DPMNE | 363,086 | 41.20 | |
Stevo Pendarovski | Social Democratic Union of Macedonia | 180,500 | 20.48 | |
Bujar Osmani | Democratic Union for Integration | 121,088 | 13.74 | |
Maksim Dimitrievski | For Our Macedonia | 83,856 | 9.51 | |
Arben Taravari | Alliance for Albanians | 83,393 | 9.46 | |
Biljana Vankovska | Independent [a] | 41,331 | 4.69 | |
Stevčo Jakimovski | Citizen Option for Macedonia | 8,121 | 0.92 | |
Total | 881,375 | 100.00 | ||
Valid votes | 881,375 | 97.29 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 24,562 | 2.71 | ||
Total votes | 905,937 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 1,814,317 | 49.93 | ||
Source: SEC |
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|
North Macedonia portal |
Presidential elections were held in North Macedonia on 24 April 2024. No candidate received a majority of votes in the first round, so a second round will be held on 8 May 2024, alongside parliamentary elections. [1] [2] Incumbent Stevo Pendarovski is eligible for re-election.
The President of North Macedonia is elected using a modified two-round system; a candidate can only be elected in the first round of voting if they receive the equivalent of over 50% of the vote from all registered voters. [3] In the second round, voter turnout must be at least 40% for the result to be deemed valid. [4] Before 2009, the constitution required turnout in the second round to be 50% to validate the result. However, the XXXI amendment approved on 9 January 2009 lowered the threshold to 40%, [4] as the then-government feared the trend of reducing turnouts would lead to presidential elections being frequently invalidated. In the 2009 presidential elections, second round turnout was just 42.6%. [5]
In order to contest the election, potential candidates are required to collect signatures from at least 10,000 registered voters or 30 MPs. [6]
The constitution mandates that the President must be over 40 years of age and have lived in the country for ten of the last fifteen years.
Campaigning began on 4 April 2024. [7]
Ballot position [8] | Candidate | Affiliation | Declared intent to run | Signatures collected/endorsements [9] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Stevo Pendarovski (incumbent) | SDSM [a] | 28 February 2024 [12] | 22,413 | |
2. | Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova | VMRO-DPMNE [b] | 22 February 2024 [14] | 30 MPs | |
3. | Stevčo Jakimovski | GROM [c] | 21 February 2024 [16] | 11,292 | |
4. | Bujar Osmani | Democratic Union for Integration [d] | 22 February 2024 [18] | 11,085 | |
5. | Biljana Vankovska | Independent [e] | 7 February 2024 [19] | 10,568 | |
6. | Arben Taravari | Alliance for Albanians [f] | 15 February 2024 [20] | 10,708 | |
7. | Maksim Dimitrievski | ZNAM | 22 February 2024 [21] | 11,605 |
Candidate | Affiliation | Declared intent to run | Signatures collected [22] | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Velo Markovski | Independent [a] | 19 October 2023 [23] | 1,668 | |
Gospodin Poposki | Independent | 15 February 2024 [24] | 147 | |
Gjorgji Manaskov | Independent | 16 February 2024 [25] | 496 | |
Mersiha Smailović | Bosniak Democratic Union | 21 February 2024 [26] | 3,246 | |
Zorica Cvetkovska | Desna [27] | 24 February 2024 [28] | 293 | |
Goce Ristov | Independent | 4 March 2024 [29] | 6 | |
Dragan Nikolovski | Independent | 6 March 2024 [30] | 8 |
Candidate | Affiliation | Declared intent to run | Dropped out | Signatures collected (23 February) [31] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tome Nikoloski | Independent | 15 May 2023 [32] | 23 February 2024 [33] | 0 |
Stevo Pendarovski supports revising the constitution to include recognition of a Bulgarian minority in North Macedonia, a condition set by Bulgaria to allow the country's accession to the European Union. Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova calls for negotiations with the EU under a new framework and for such amendments to be made after North Macedonia attains EU membership. Pendarovski calls on fighting corruption through taking on organized criminal groups, while Siljanovska-Davkova focused on the judiciary in her anti-corruption stance. [34] [35]
Following the first round, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova said "the hour has come for this government to go" [36] and described the results as a "new course". She also called on voters to prove "that we have always (belonged to) Europe". Stevo Pendarovski expressed surprise and disappointment with the result, but expressed hope for improvement in the second round, including with the support of the Albanian community. [37] [38]
The Democratic Union for Integration, which represents ethnic Albanians and is led by former Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, offered its support in the second round to any candidate who supports having the President selected by the Assembly of North Macedonia in future elections, in the hopes of having an ethnic Albanian attaining the office. However, both Pendarovski and Siljanovska-Davkova have dismissed the proposal, saying it is democratic for the Presidency to be selected through direct voting. [38]
Polling in the first round opened at 07:00 on 24 April and lasted until 19:00 at 3,480 polling stations nationwide. About 1.8 million people were eligible to vote, while around 320 international observers monitored the proceedings. [39] [38]
Polling firm | Date | Sample size |
|||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pendarovski | Siljanovska | Taravari | Osmani | Dimitrievski | Vankovska | Jakimovski | |||
SDSM | VMRO-DPMNE | ASh | BDI | ZNAM | Levica | GROM | |||
Election Results | 24 Apr 2024 | 905,937 | 20.5 | 41.2 | 9.5 | 13.7 | 9.5 | 4.7 | 0.9 |
IPIS | Apr 2024 | 1,200 | 23.8 | 39.0 | 10.7 | 11.5 | 7.7 | 5.5 | 1.6 |
CRPC | 8–13 Apr 2024 | 1,210 | 28.8 | 35.0 | 13.6 | 11.5 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 2.1 |
МКД.мк | 15–24 Mar 2024 | 1,200 | 19.8 | 36.5 | 10.5 | 14.3 | 12.1 | 4.9 | 1.5 |
CRPC | 4–7 Mar 2024 | 1,085 | 29.3 | 35.5 | 14.3 | 9.6 | 5.1 | 4.3 | 2.0 |
IPIS [a] | 20 Feb 2024 | 1,212 | 22.3 | 39.2 | 13.4 [b] | 12.2 | 5.8 | 6.4 | – |
2019 election | – | 44.8 | 44.2 | 11.1 [c] | – | – | – | – |
Polling firm | Date | Sample size |
||
---|---|---|---|---|
Pendarovski | Siljanovska | |||
SDSM | VMRO-DPMNE | |||
МКД.мк | 15–24 Mar 2024 | 1,200 | 44.2 | 55.8 |
2019 election | – | 53.6 | 46.4 |
99.91% reporting | ||||
Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova | VMRO-DPMNE | 363,086 | 41.20 | |
Stevo Pendarovski | Social Democratic Union of Macedonia | 180,500 | 20.48 | |
Bujar Osmani | Democratic Union for Integration | 121,088 | 13.74 | |
Maksim Dimitrievski | For Our Macedonia | 83,856 | 9.51 | |
Arben Taravari | Alliance for Albanians | 83,393 | 9.46 | |
Biljana Vankovska | Independent [a] | 41,331 | 4.69 | |
Stevčo Jakimovski | Citizen Option for Macedonia | 8,121 | 0.92 | |
Total | 881,375 | 100.00 | ||
Valid votes | 881,375 | 97.29 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 24,562 | 2.71 | ||
Total votes | 905,937 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 1,814,317 | 49.93 | ||
Source: SEC |