Around 6 hours after the closing of polling stations on Sunday, the State Election Commission (SEC) held, after midnight, a press-conference to present the unofficial results of the first round of the local elections.
SEC President Boris Kondarko stated that voter turnout had been 48.46%, somewhat lower when compared to previous election cycles. Regarding the Skopje mayoral race, based on 86% of processed votes, VMRO-DPMNE’s Orce Gjorgjievski (77,858 votes) and Levica’s Amar Mecinovic (26,119 votes) will be the candidates in the second round.
So far, the SEC explained, 96.11% of ballot papers have been processed.
Based on those data, VMRO-DPMNE and its coalition have a convincing lead in 54 municipalities in the county, VLEN is ahead in nine, SDSM has a lead in seven, the DUI-led coalition is ahead in five municipalities, while in one municipality, Democratic Party of Turks is in the lead.
Kondarko stated that election day had been peaceful, with several smaller irregularities that hadn’t impacted the election process.