2024 North Macedonian presidential election

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2024 North Macedonian presidential election
← 2019 24 April 2024 (first round)
8 May 2024 (second round)		 2029 →
 
Nominee Gordana Siljanovska Stevo Pendarovski
Party VMRO-DPMNE SDSM
Alliance Your Macedonia For a European Future
President before election

Stevo Pendarovski
SDSM

Elected President

TBD

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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.

Electoral system

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]

Candidates

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 [mk] The Left[e] 7 February 2024[19] 10,568
6. Arben Taravari [mk] Alliance for Albanians[f] 15 February 2024[20] 10,708
7. Maksim Dimitrievski ZNAM 22 February 2024[21] 11,605
  1. PP and SRM.[10][11]
  2. ^ Endorsed by VMRO-DPMNE. Also endorsed by SPM.[13]
  3. ^ Also endorsed by Macedonian Conservative Party INTEGRA[15]
  4. ^ Also endorsed by DPA, AA (Ziadin Sela faction), People's Movement, European Democratic Party, Union of the Roma, DPT, Movement of Turks for Justice and Democracy and Bosniak Democratic Union[17]
  5. ^ Endorsed by The Left
  6. ^ Endorsed by Coalition "Worth" (Albanian: Vlen), which includes Besa, Alternative, Democratic Movement and the Arben Taravari faction of Alliance for Albanians

Failed to collect enough signatures

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 [mk] 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
  1. ^ Member of VMRO-DPMNE who has announced his run without his party's endorsement

Dropped out

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

Campaigning

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]

Conduct

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]

Opinion polls

First round
Polling firm Date Sample
size
Стевчо Јакимовски (3).jpg
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
МКД.мк 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] – – – –
Second round
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
  1. ^ Poll conducted before any candidates qualified to be on the ballot
  2. ^ Combined results for ASh and the VLEN coalition
  3. ^ Different candidate (Blerim Reka), endorsed by all parties of the VLEN coalition except Democratic Movement, which did not exist in 2019

Results

First round

99.91% reporting
CandidatePartyVotes%
SDSM
180,50020.48
Bujar OsmaniDemocratic Union for Integration121,08813.74
Maksim DimitrievskiFor Our Macedonia83,8569.51
Arben Taravari [mk]Alliance for Albanians83,3939.46
Biljana Vankovska [mk]The Left[a]41,3314.69
Stevčo JakimovskiCitizen Option for Macedonia8,1210.92
Total881,375100.00
Valid votes881,37597.29
Invalid/blank votes24,5622.71
Total votes905,937100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,814,31749.93
Source: SEC

Notes

  1. ^ Endorsed by The Left

References

  1. ^ "EU hopeful North Macedonia to hold May 8 presidential runoff with center-right candidate in the lead". AP News. 24 April 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  2. ^ "North Macedonia presidential election heads to runoff". dw.com. 26 April 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  3. ^ Polls Open in Macedonia Presidential Elections Balkan Insight, 13 April 2014
  4. ^ a b Amendment XXXI Constitution of North Macedonia
  5. ^ Anna Fruhstorfer & Michael Hein (2016) Constitutional Politics in Central and Eastern Europe: From Post-Socialist Transition to the Reform of Political Systems Springer, p235
  6. ^ "Изборен законик, член 59".
  7. ^ "North Macedonia starts month-long presidential campaign season". Associated Press. 4 April 2024. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  8. ^ "Познат редоследот на кандидатите за шеф на државата на гласачкото ливче". 360 степени (in Macedonian). 25 March 2024.
  9. ^ "Претседателски избори 2024". Државна Изборна Комисија (in Macedonian).
  10. ^ "Поддршка за кандидатурата на Стево Пендаровски од коалициските партнери на СДСМ". СДСМ - Социјалдемократски сојуз на Македонија (in Macedonian). 4 March 2024.
  11. ^ "Инсерти, средба со коалициски партнери, СДСМ". YouTube.
  12. ^ "Извршниот одбор на СДСМ го поддржа Стево Пендаровски за кандидат за Претседател на државата". Skopje1 (in Macedonian). 28 February 2024.
  13. ^ "СПМ: Единствен реален избор е кандидатката на Коалицијата "Обнова на Македонија" Силјановска Давкова". Сител Телевизија (in Macedonian).
  14. ^ "ПОДНЕСОВ КАНДИДАТУРА ВО ВМРО-ДПМНЕ ЗА ПРЕТСЕДАТЕЛКА НА ДРЖАВАТА, РЕЧЕ ГОРДАНА СИЉАНОВСКА-ДАВКОВА". Сакам Да Кажам (in Macedonian). 22 February 2024.
  15. ^ "(ВИДЕО) ИНТЕГРА со поддршка за кандидатурата на Стевчо Јакимовски за претседател". А1он. 27 February 2024.
  16. ^ "Стевчо Јакимовски, кандидат за претседател на ГРОМ". Televizija 24 (in Macedonian). 21 February 2024.
  17. ^ "Бошњачкиот демократски сојуз се приклучи кон Европскиот фронт на ДУИ". МКД.МК (in Macedonian). 1 April 2024.
  18. Radio Free Europe
    (in Albanian).
  19. ^ "Левица ја одбра професорката Билјана Ванковска за кандидат за претседател". Televizija 24 (in Macedonian). 7 February 2024.
  20. ^ "ЕСП ѝ фрла ракавица на ДУИ". Deutsche Welle (in Macedonian). 15 February 2024.
  21. ^ "Максим Димитриевски е кандидат за претседател на ЗНАМ – време е за промена на политичката сцена во Македонија". 360 степени (in Macedonian). 22 February 2024.
  22. ^ "Претседателски избори 2024". Државна Изборна Комисија (in Macedonian).
  23. ^ "Вело Марковски најави независен настап на претседателските избори, но вели оти очекува поддршка од ВМРО-ДПМНЕ". 360 степени (in Macedonian). 19 October 2023.
  24. ^ "Вмро дпмне го пуштат во терка преседател александар ѕпаѕеноѕки а македонскиот народ се одите ѕо претседателски кандидат господин попоски от вевчани поздрав до народот". Gospodin Poposki (Facebook) (in Macedonian). 15 February 2024.
  25. ^ "ЃОРЃИ МАНАСКОВ - НАДПАРТИСКИ КАНДИТАТ ЗА ПРЕТСЕДАТЕЛ НА МАКЕДОНИЈА". Manaskov Gjorgji / Манасков Ѓорѓи (Facebook) (in Macedonian). 16 February 2024.
  26. ^ "Прв пат во историјата Бошњаците ќе имаат свој кандидат за претседател на Македонија – Мерсиха Смаиловиќ". TV 21 (in Macedonian). 21 February 2024.
  27. ^ "Соопштение за јавност и медиумите (бр. 02-2024)". Политичка партија ДЕСНА (in Macedonian). 26 February 2024.
  28. ^ "Зорица Цветковска - кандидат за Претседател на Република Македонија (Facebook)". Facebook. 24 February 2024.
  29. ^ "Известување за доставување на Иницијатива за собирање потписи за кандидатура за Претседател на државата". Државна Изборна Комисија (in Macedonian). 4 March 2024.
  30. ^ "Известување за доставување на Иницијатива за собирање потписи за кандидатура за Претседател на државата". Државна Изборна Комисија (in Macedonian). 6 March 2024.
  31. ^ "Над 1000 потписи имаат Османи, Ванковска и Димитриевски, ДИК од утре еднаш дневно ќе известува за собраните потписи". Makfax (in Macedonian). 24 February 2024.
  32. ^ "Tome Nikoloski (Facebook)". Facebook (in Macedonian). 15 May 2023.
  33. ^ "Македонски народе ја бојкотирам и ја прекинувам кампањата за претстојните претседателски избори,и моменталното собирање на потребните потписи". Tome Nikoloski (Facebook) (in Macedonian). 23 February 2024.
  34. ^ "North Macedonia to elect president after campaign focused on hot-button issue of EU membership". Associated Press. 23 April 2024.
  35. ^ "North Macedonia votes in presidential polls as EU membership bid looms". Al Jazeera. 24 April 2024.
  36. ^ "EU membership on the table as North Macedonia holds first round of presidential vote". France 24. 24 April 2024.
  37. ^ "EU hopeful North Macedonia to hold May 8 presidential runoff with center-right candidate in the lead". Associated Press. 25 April 2024.
  38. ^ a b c "N. Macedonia's right-wing candidate wins first round presidential election". France 24. 25 April 2024.
  39. ^ "Longtime EU hopeful North Macedonia holds presidential polls centered on bloc accession, rule of law". Associated Press. 24 April 2024.
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