• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Macedonia - Election 2024

North Macedonia is a parliamentary republic. Legislative power rests in a unicameral parliament elected for a four-year term and executive authority is vested in a government led by the prime minister. The president is directly elected through a majoritarian system for a maximum of two five-year terms. The president’s operative powers are limited to serving as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and appointing ambassadors and two members of both the Constitutional Court and the Republican judicial council.

The legal framework for elections has not been amended since the 2021 local elections. A number of long-standing ODIHR recommendations have not been addressed, including recommendations to harmonize the Electoral Code, to stipulate clear tenure and appointment procedures for State Election Commissioners, and to provide effective remedies for electoral disputes.

The president is directly elected by popular vote under a two-round majoritarian system in which a candidate must receive over 50 per cent of votes from all registered voters in order to win in the first round. Should no candidate achieve this, a runoff between the two candidates with the most votes takes place two weeks later. The 120 members of parliament (MPs) representing 6 in-country territorial constituencies are elected under a proportional representation system, using closed lists, and 3 additional MPs may be elected in elections for a single, out-of-country district.

All citizens over the age of 18 years are eligible to vote, except for those prohibited via a final court decision on the basis of legal incapacity or criminal conviction, which is at odds with OSCE commitments and international standards. Voter registration for resident citizens is passive, maintained by the SEC and based on biometric databases. Citizens are able to verify their own inclusion on the voter’s list and the voter register is made available for public inspection.

Registration as a presidential candidate is open to any citizen eligible to vote, of at least 40 years of age and who has been resident in the country for 10 of the preceding 15 years. Candidates for parliament may be nominated by political parties, coalitions of parties, or by groups of voters. The nomination of a presidential candidate must be supported, either by the signatures of 30 MPs or at least 10,000 voters and those for parliament with at least 1,000 voters residing in the respective electoral district.

Political parties receive public funding and electoral candidates may receive donations, up to clearly defined thresholds, from individual citizens and legal entities, but not from foreign sources, state or stateaffiliated entities, religious and charitable organizations or the media. The supervision of campaign finance is primarily carried out by the State Audit Office and the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption which is tasked with monitoring of political financing and can initiate inspections, based on complaints and in reaction to the audit reports. Electoral contestants are obliged to submit two interim reports before the elections and one after the election and a final report which is subject to audit.

The media presents a diverse array of perspectives but are fragmentated along political and ethnic lines. The public broadcaster is required to follow strict rules governing the attribution of time in its broadcasts, and must allocate free airtime for electoral candidates and hold debates between the main ruling and opposition parties. All political advertisements for both presidential and parliamentary elections in the broadcast, print and online media are paid for by the state according to regulations on pricing and timing.

Presidential elections were last held in 2019, and were won by Stevo Pendarovski following a run-off which took place on 8 May. The last parliamentary elections were held on 15 July 2020 before the official end of the sitting parliament’s term. These resulted in a coalition government composed of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) and the Besa movement which had formed the “We-can” preelection coalition with 46 seats, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) with 15 seats, and the coalition between the Alliance for Albanians and AlternAtivA with 12 seats. A government was formed with Zoran Zaev appointed as Prime Minister.

Zaev resigned as Prime Minister in December 2021 following his party’s losses in the October 2021 local elections. Dimitar Kovacevski, of the SDSM, was appointed Prime Minister in January 2022. In January 2024, a caretaker government led by Talat Xhaferi, the country’s first ethnic-Albanian prime minister, was formed in fulfilment of the coalition agreement between the SDSM and the DUI. The outgoing parliament included 51 women (42.5 per cent); and 64 (53 per cent) of the members of parliament are under the age of 45. Many ODIHR NAM interlocutors noted that while the period ahead of the elections had been stable, the political environment was susceptible to tension and fragility as elections approached. Many interlocutors also emphasized that the fact that presidential and parliamentary elections would be held concurrently would also magnify the likelihood of political unrest. The elections are taking place amid continued political discourse surrounding the country’s EU accession process.

On 24 April 2024, the Republic of North Macedonia (RNM) held the seventh presidential election since declaring independence on 8 September 1991. There are 1,814,317 eligible voters, while the total population of North Macedonia is 1,836,713 residents plus 260,606 non-residents. The entire country constitutes one electoral unit. The presidential elections in the Republic of North Macedonia represent a renewed confrontation between two opposing political blocs: the centre-left SDSM and the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE, alongside an intra-Albanian political struggle involving the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) and other parties, enjoying strong support from Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti (LVV). Presidential elections are unique in that they heavily rely on the personalities representing the parties/coalitions and their programs.

During the last presidential elections in 2019, Russia had a clear favourite among the presidential candidates, - VMRO-DPMNE candidate Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, against Stevo Pendarovski, who was seen as anti-Russian and pro-Western. Seven candidates will compete for the presidential position:

1. Stevo Pendarovski, the joint candidate of the ruling SDSM (Social Democratic Union of Macedonia) and the “For European Future” coalition
2. Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, the candidate of the opposition right-wing VMRO-DPMNE (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity) with the support of several coalition parties
3. Bujar Osmani, the candidate of DUI (Democratic Union for Integration) and the “European Front” coalition
4. Arben Taravari from the “Worth” (Vlen) coalition
5. Maksim Dimitrievski from the “I Know” Movement (ZNAM – For Our Macedonia)
6. Biljana Vankovska Cvetkovska from the The Left party
7. Stevco Jakimovski from the coalition “Bravely for Macedonia” (Citizens Option for North Macedonia).

The second round of presidential elections would take place on 8 May 2024, alongside the regular parliamentary elections.

Gordana Siljanovska Davkova was carefully chosen in the laboratory of VMRO-DPMNE, and her public appearances reflect the recognizable influence of Nikola Gruevski and Gjorge Ivanov. Gruevski acts as the political mentor behind Siljanovska Davkova's platform, while Ivanov serves as her inspiration. Despite her credentials as both a professor and a doctor of law, Siljanovska Davkova does not acknowledge the constitutional name of the Republic of North Macedonia, although she submitted her candidacy for the presidency to the State Election Commission of the Republic of North Macedonia. She remains ambiguous on several other issues, attempting to curry favour with voters by offering not new but rather timeworn policies reminiscent of Gjorge Ivanov. Siljanovska Davkova also maintains that the Prespa Agreement remains an open question and does not acknowledge the constitutional name Republic of North Macedonia.

The speeches of most candidates convey a clear message: their participation in the elections aims to prevent Stevo Pendarovski from advancing to the second round of presidential elections. Analysts caution about the role of the six opposing candidates campaigning against the incumbent president Pendarovski, aiming to prevent his entry into the second round of presidential elections, primarily originating from centres that oppose and contest North Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic integration. Behind-the-scenes events in the Macedonian political scene confirm that a portion of Albanians still closely collaborate with VMRO-DPMNE and maintain communication/cooperation with Nikola Gruevski.

Stevo Pendarovski holds an advantage over Siljanovska Davkova and other candidates because he represents a broad political and ethnic spectrum. His political program builds on the progress achieved so far, pushing for continued accelerated reforms initiated by the current government, aiming for full EU membership while fostering interethnic relations and enhancing North Macedonia's international reputation.

Individuals who obstruct or refuse to acknowledge the Prespa Agreement, which has brought peace, stability, and prosperity to the country, and those who reject its constitutional name, Republic of North Macedonia, face sanctions and are placed on the “blacklist” of the US administration. In response to statements, obstructions, and actions contrary to the Prespa and Ohrid agreements, US President Joseph Biden signed an executive order in 2021 freezing assets and banning entry to the US for individuals working against the Prespa Agreement and the Ohrid Framework Agreement.

Analysts with the International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES)[1] based in Ljubljana, Slovenia believed that "the newly elected president must act as a corrective to the executive power and serve as a moral authority, bolstering the country's position on the Euro-Atlantic path. However, there is a legitimate concern that the election of Gordana Siljanovska Davkova may signal a potential shift towards Russia, deviating from the Euro-Atlantic trajectory....

"Under Nikola Gruevski's regime, an estimated sum of over five billion euros was reportedly siphoned out of the country, while businessmen were coerced into paying "racket" to the regime. Inter-ethnic conflicts were regularly manufactured on a daily basis, creating insecurity, anxiety and fear among citizens. Gruevski and his inner circle oligarchy acquired massive wealth during this period.

"An informal centre of power emerged with Nikola Gruevski - Sašo Mijalkov - Orce Kamcev as a symbiosis of politicians, tycoons and the mafia, supported by underground intelligence, effectively governing the state. After the fall of this regime, subsequent Macedonian governments governed only partially, because they failed to fully counter the informal centres of power and dismantle the Gruevski-Mijalkov-Kamcev regime, which continuously worked subversively against the government, possessing significant funds to weaken and overthrow it with the intention of reverting North Macedonia to its previous state.

"De-Gruevization not only requires addressing the causes and consequences of the regime of Nikola Gruevski and VMRO-DPMNE but also demands a necessary, long-term process of dismantling that regime, which has been only partially achieved. VMRO-DPMNE has never disavowed Nikola Gruevski's political legacy.... Since 2018, Gruevski has been on the run, in exile in Hungary under the protection of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (Fidesz).... Hungarian money continues to flow into pro-VMRO-DPMNE media unabated. The ideological framework remains steadfast from the time of Gruevski to the present day."

North Macedonia's conservative opposition party won a decisive victory in the country's dual parliamentary and presidential elections on May 8, according to preliminary results. In a simultaneous parliamentary vote, the VMRO-DPMNE received 43.2 percent of the vote and will have 58 seats in the 120-seat parliament, bringing to an end SDSM's seven-year stint in power. VMRO-DPMNE leader and expected future Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said his party and the Vredi block of Albanian opposition parties, which won 13 seats, would form the government. SDSM has won 18 mandates. Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, a law professor supported by the conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, won the presidency by a wide margin, ousting incumbent Social Democrat Stevo Pendarovski. Siljanovska-Davkova is the first woman to be elected president of North Macedonia. A coalition led by VMRO-DPMNE also won the majority of the nation's 120 parliamentary seats, though the exact distribution of seats will be determined in talks following the elections. Social Democrat leader Dimitar Kovachevski conceded his party's defeat in the parliamentary election and announced he would step down from his position.

When North Macedonia's new president, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, took the oath of office in early May, she referred to her country only as Macedonia. At the ceremony, the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party politician said "I declare that I will exercise the office of President of Macedonia conscientiously and responsibly, respect the constitution and the laws and protect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Macedonia." The Greek ambassador left the parliamentary chamber in protest. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek head of government, called the speech an "illegal and unacceptable act" that "constitutes a violation of the Prespa Agreement." The conservative also threatened to block North Macedonia's EU admission. The country has had candidate status since 2005.