BELGRADE, May 8. Voting in the second round of presidential and Parliamentary elections in North Macedonia have ended, the State Election Commission (SEC) announced.
The expression of will took place in a calm atmosphere from 7.00 (8.00 Moscow time) to 19.00 (20.00 Moscow time) at about 3.5 thousand sites in North Macedonia. For a number of technical reasons, 1,814,317 people have the right to vote in presidential elections, and 1,815,350 people in parliamentary elections.
In the first round of the presidential elections on April 24, by 17.00 (18.00 Moscow time) the turnout was 42.33%. By the same time on Wednesday, according to data on the official website of the State Electoral Commission, it was 39.27%
In the parliamentary elections taking place simultaneously with the presidential elections, the turnout was slightly higher – 45.85%.
For the first time since the “motley revolution” of 2016, when the now ruling party SDSM (Social Democratic Union of Macedonia) came to power in North Macedonia, the largest opposition VMRO-DPMNE (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization — Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity) can win presidential and parliamentary elections.
The first round of the presidential elections took place on April 24. VMRO-DPMNE candidate Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova doubled ahead of President Stevo Pendarovski, gaining about 40% of the votes against less than 20% for the incumbent head of state. The third result was demonstrated by the candidate from the largest Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani — about 13.5%.
With such an advantage, Silyanovskaya-Davkova's victory over Pendarovski in the second round is almost guaranteed, but the support of ethnic Albanian voters, who make up about 25% in the country, will play an important role.
The President of the Republic is elected for a term of five years, performs mainly representative functions, and foreign and domestic policy is determined by the government headed by the Prime Minister, which is supported by the ruling majority in parliament. In total, candidates from 17 parties and blocs are vying for 120 seats in the Assembly, the largest of which are SDSM, VMRO-DPMNE, DUI and the opposition Albanian coalition VLEN. The first preliminary results are expected around 21.00 (22.00 Moscow time).