On Thursday, the State Election Commission (SEC) presented the preliminary official results of the first round of the presidential election. VMRO-DPMNE-endorsed Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, with 363,086 votes (40.08%), and SDSM-endorsed Stevo Pendarovski, with 180,500 votes (19.92%), will enter the second round. Votes from 3,505 out of 3,508 polling stations have been processed. At three stations in Kumanovo, the vote was ...

The first round of the presidential election was competitive and voters were able to make an informed choice. Election day was assessed overall positively, with voting procedures largely respected, while in some cases, during the counting, election boards did not fully complete prescribed procedures. Those are the preliminary findings and conclusions by ODIHR and Council of Europe (CoE) observers, presented ...

VMRO-DPMNE has started talks on potential ruling coalitions. “I have taken the initiative since this morning and talked to some political actors,” party leader Hristijan Mickoski said on Thursday, adding that their names would be known in the coming days. However, he added that all opposition parties were welcome. “I think we will first have a historic result on 8 ...

VLEN’s presidential candidate, Arben Taravari, hasn’t revealed details of the phone call he had on Wednesday with VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski. On Thursday, he also denied he’d had a secret meeting with DUI leader Ali Ahmeti the previous night and that he’d received some offer for him. Moreover, VLEN has affirmed the common goal, saying it is to make DUI ...

On Thursday, Levica leader Dimitar Apasiev said regarding the first round of the presidential election that though his party had expected presidential candidate Biljana Vankovska to have a better result, it was satisfied that “we have reached the avant-garde”. However, he added that since the avant-garde didn’t bring victories, the party would work on improving its infrastructure and base until ...

The Supreme Court has accepted Aleksandar Gjorcevski’s appeal over the detention measure, which means the father of Vanja Gjorcevska, the girl killed last year, will be transferred from the detention unit in Suto Orizari to house arrest. Gjorcevski is suspected of helping the other suspects in the kidnapping of his daughter. Gjorcevski’s lawyer, Vladimir Tufegdzic, said after the decision had ...

VMRO-DPMNE-endorsed Gordana Siljanovska Davkova and SDSM-endorsed Stevo Pendrovski are entering the second round of the presidential election. With 99.03% of the votes counted, Siljanovska Davkova has the support of 40.08% of voters, that is, 362,682 votes, while Pendarovski is second, with 19.93% (180,306 votes). DUI’s Osmani is third, with 13.36% i.e. 120,903 votes, VLEN’s Taravari is fourth, with 9.21% or ...

“It’s clear that people have punished us and we accept that. Today is a severe blow to the country’s European perspective. However, giving up is not an option for us. There are two weeks to go until the second round for us to send the message to every village, house, and citizen that the country’s European integration is the only ...

Presidential candidates reacted on Wednesday night to the preliminary results of the first round. At a press-conference, VMRO-DPMNE-endorsed presidential candidate Gordana Siljanovska Davkova thanked all citizens, not only those who had voted for her. “I will cooperate with the party endorsing me, but I will cooperate also with both the opposition and the NGO sector. I will show and prove ...

At a press-conference on Wednesday, caretaker Interior Minister Pance Toskovski and the additional Deputy Minister, Mitko Bojmacaliev, congratulated citizens on the fair and democratic election. At the press-conference, Toskovski presented irregularities he described as insignificant. The Caretaker Minister stated that there hadn’t been incidents that were more serious and that aimed at violating the election’s irregularity. At a national level, ...