site.btaVMRO-DPMNE Expected to Win 20 More Mayoral Seats in North Macedonia Runoff, Initial Results Show

With over 51% of ballots counted in Sunday’s mayoral runoffs across 33 municipalities in North Macedonia, candidates of VMRO-DPMNE are leading in 20 municipalities, those of the opposition SDSM in three, and the Albanian coalition VLEN – a government partner – in five, according to preliminary data from the State Election Commission.

Candidates of the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI)-led National Alliance for Integration are ahead in two municipalities. The Roma Union candidate leads in Skopje’s Suto Orizari, while the ZNAM movement’s candidate, incumbent mayor Maksim Dimitrievski, is leading in Kumanovo.

Party representatives described the elections as peaceful and fair. VMRO-DPMNE declared confidence in a "major victory", while DUI’s Arber Ademi called the vote "a test of the country’s political and moral character".

In Skopje, with more than 64% of ballots processed, VMRO-DPMNE’s candidate Orce Gjorgjievski leads with 61% of the vote against Levica’s Amar Mecinovic.

Voter turnout stood at 45.71% nationwide and 33.82% in Skopje by 6:30 p.m. local time, half an hour before polls closed. The highest turnout was in Rosoman (45.7%) and the lowest in the predominantly Albanian Skopje municipalities of Saraj and Cair.