site.btaEight Observers Stripped of Accreditation in North Macedonia Runoff; Voter Turnout Nears 40%

Eight local election observers in Skopje’s Suto Orizari municipality were stripped of their accreditation for campaigning during Sunday’s mayoral runoff, the State Election Commission (SEC) of North Macedonia said. SEC Chair Boris Kondarko announced that the Interior Ministry had been notified of the incident.

Two hours before polls closed, voter turnout stood at 39.28%, according to the SEC. The highest participation was recorded in the municipalities of Konche (64.44%), Dojran (62.96%), and Rosoman (63.58%), while the lowest was in Kumanovo (27.41%) and Suto Orizari (26.33%).

In Skopje, where some municipalities already elected mayors in the first round on October 19, turnout for the city mayor race was 28.52%, about 10 percentage points lower than in the first round. Among Skopje municipalities voting in the runoff, turnout reached 36% in Aerodrom, 40% in Karposh, and 39% in Centar.

A total of 1,013,375 citizens were eligible to vote in the runoff, held from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time.

Mayors were elected in 44 municipalities in the first round, while elections in four municipalities will be repeated due to turnout below the one-third threshold required by law. Under North Macedonian legislation, repeat elections must be held within 60 days, and in the runoff, the candidate with the most votes is elected without a turnout requirement.