site.btaNorth Macedonia Prepares for Local Elections Run-off

In North Macedonia, mayors in 33 municipalities, including Skopje, will be elected in run-off elections on Sunday. In the first round of local elections on October 19, mayors were elected in 44 municipalities.

In four locations, the elections will be repeated in full due to insufficient voter turnout. According to the country’s legislation, if fewer than one-third of registered voters participate in local elections, the elections are considered invalid and must be repeated, following the full procedure, no later than 60 days after the official announcement of the final results.

In some municipalities where mayoral candidates proceed to the run-off with a large lead from the first round, there is little suspense. However, in municipalities such as Skopje’s Centre and Karpos boroughs, as well as in Kocani, Kicevo, Tetovo, and Struga - and of course Skopje itself - the results are expected with particular interest.

In a statement on Friday, opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) Chair Venko Filipce called for mass voter turnout on Sunday and for support from all citizens and candidates who did not reach the run-off, in order to continue “the decline of support for the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE).” SDSM, however, will not be endorsing any specific candidate in municipalities where it is not in the run-off, Filipce noted.

One of the questions to be answered in Sunday’s vote is whether coalition partners in the government, VMRO-DPMNE and the Vlen Coalition, will support each other - respectively in Kicevo and Tetovo - against their opponents from the National Alliance for Integration (NAI), which is formed around the country’s largest ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration led by Ali Ahmeti. This is due to the tradition of ethnic voting in the western part of the country.

In Tetovo, candidates from the two Albanian blocs will face off: the current mayor Bilal Kasami from the governing Vlen Coalition, and Bajram Rexhepi from NAI. The margin between them in the first round was fewer than 4,000 votes in Kasami’s favour. SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE did not field their own candidates in Tetovo in the first round, but the candidate of The Left won around 3,300 votes. SDSM has not yet announced support for any run-off mayoral candidates, while VMRO-DPMNE called for votes for Kasami — their coalition partner at the national level — already in the first round.

In addition to mayoral elections, there will also be a re-vote for municipal council members in three polling stations in Skopje’s Suto Orizari borough, due to discrepancies identified by the State Election Commission in the first round.

The electoral campaign ends at midnight, and on Saturday, in line with North Macedonia's law, the sick and infirm, prisoners, and those under house arrest are allowed to vote.

In four municipalities - Gostivar, Mavrovo-Rostusa, Vrapciste, and Centar Zupa - the mayoral elections failed. Once the final results for local government voting are announced, new elections will be called, as the turnout threshold of at least one-third of registered voters was not reached.