On Sunday night, the State Election Commission (SEC) presented the preliminary unofficial results of the second round of the local elections, held in 32 municipalities and the city of Skopje.
SEC President Boris Kondarko stated that based on 98.25% of processed votes, voter turnout had been 41.76% at a national level.
In the Skopje mayoral race, VMRO-DPMNE’s candidate, Orce Gjorgjievski, won 93,207 votes, while his opponent, Levica’s Amar Mecinovic, received 58,994 votes. Turnout in the capital was 35.05%.
According to the preliminary unofficial results, the VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition’s candidates are in the lead in 21 municipalities, VLEN is winning four mayoral races, SDSM has the lead in three municipalities, while ZNAM, Union of Roma, the DUI-led coalition are each winning one mayoral race.
In Struga, according to the results, the independent candidate endorsed by VLEN, Mendi Qyra, has the lead.
In Aerodrom, based on 99.9% of processed votes, VMRO-DPMNE’s Dejan Miteski won 17,873 votes, whereas SDSM’s Aleksandar Trajanovski won 9,489.
In Bogovinje, VLEN’s Feti Abazi won 6,380 votes, whereas the DUI-led coalition’s Besnik Emshi won 5,040.
In Brvenica, VMRO-DPMNE’s Jovica Ilievski, with 4,369 votes, has the lead over VLEN’s Haqim Ramadani, who has 4,224.
In Valandovo, VMRO-DPMNE’s Gjoko Kamcev won 3,258 votes, that is, 246 more than SDSM’s candidate, Pero Kostadinov.
In Vinica, VMRO-DPMNE’s Mitko Kostadinovski won 4,449 votes, whereas SDSM’s Goce Milevski won 3,320.
In Karpos, VMRO-DPMNE’s Sotir Lukrovski won 12,650 votes, that is, 1,229 more than Stevco Jakimovski, the Experience for Success coalition-endorsed candidate who is running for another term.
In Kicevo, VMRO-DPMNE’s Aleksandar Jovanovski won 14,205 votes, whereas the DUI-led coalition’s Fatmir Dehari won 11,908.
In Krusevo, VMRO-DPMNE’s Niko Coneski has 2,662 votes, that is, 19 more than SDSM’s candidate, Tome Hristoski.
In Tetovo, VLEN co-leader Bilall Kasami, who’s running for another term, received 21,004 votes, whereas the DUI-led coalition-endorsed candidate, Bajram Rexhepi, won 15,958.
In Centar, SDSM’s Goran Gerasimovski won 10,429 votes, whereas ZNAM’s Miroslav Labudovic won 7,578.
In Suto Orizari, the Union of Roma’s Kurto Dudus, who’s running for another term, won 3,354 votes, while his opponent, VMRO-DPMNE-endorsed Erdjan Demir got 2,991.
According to the Electoral Code, the candidate that wins more votes will be elected the mayor. The preliminary official results will be presented at a public session on Monday (3 November).
Also, at a press-conference after the closing of polling stations on Sunday, Interior Minister Pance Toskovski stated that Macedonia had shown it could organise elections befitting all European democracies.
As in the case with the first round, the second one, too, saw no incidents that were more serious, no violation of the public order and peace, and no events that could call into question the integrity of the election process, he assessed.