Macedonian citizens are voting on November 2nd in the second round of mayoral elections in 33 municipalities, after none of the candidates secured a majority there in the first round, including in the capital, Skopje.
The second-round elections will determine mayors in several urban and rural areas. They will round out the indicator for the current political balance in the country.
Polling stations opened at 7 am and will close at 19 pm, after which the SEC is expected to begin counting and announcing the votes. 1.013.375 citizens are eligible to vote.
A second round is held where none of the candidates in the first round has won 50 plus one of the total votes. The two highest-placed candidates from the first round are on the ballot.
The municipalities and cities in which the mayor is elected in the second round are: Skopje, Aerodrom, Bogovinje, Brvenica, Valandovo, Vinica, Debar, Debarča, Demir Kapija, Dojran, Dolneni, Žrnovci, Karpoš, Kičevo, Konče, Kočani, Kruševo, Kumanovo, Kruševo, Kumanovo, Brodsko Makedonsko, Lozovo, Kumanovo Probištip, Rankovce, Rosoman, Struga, Studeničani, Tetovo, Centar, Češinovo-Obleševo, Čučer Sandevo and Šuto Orizari.
In the City of Skopje, candidates from the ruling VMRO-DPMNE and the Left will compete.
A total of 474.000 citizens of Skopje eligible to vote on November 2 will have the right to decide by circling the number on the ballot who will succeed the current mayor, Danela Arsovska, an independent candidate previously supported by VMRO-DPMNE.
The mayor of Kisela Voda from VMRO-DPMNE, Orce Gjorgievski, is also running for mayor of the capital, while his opponent is former Left MP Amar Mečinović.
The difference between the two candidates in the first round was 61.000 votes. Gjorgievski won 91.000 votes, while his opponent won 30.000 votes.
In 16 municipalities, voters will choose between candidates from the ruling VMRO-DPMNE and the opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM).
These are the most numerous political clashes in the second round and will provide an answer to the capacities of the opposition SDSM, which won only 3 mayoral seats in the first round, compared to 33 seats for the ruling VMRO-DPMNE. These are 16 municipalities in the central and eastern parts of the country.
The Skopje municipalities of Centar and Karpoš, but also Kičevo, Tetovo and Struga, as well as Kočani, are part of the municipalities that political analysts mark as interesting to monitor and where voters of candidates who did not make it to the second round could be crucial for victory, or a turnaround.
The tragedy in Kočani, where a fire at the Puls nightclub in March killed 63 people and injured more than 200, has focused public attention on the city during local elections.
In the second round, Kočani will choose between acting mayor and independent candidate Venko Krstevski and Vlatko Grozdanov of VMRO-DPMNE. Grozdanov won about 2.200 votes more than Krstevski in the first round on October 19th.
According to SEC data, independent candidates are entering the second round in at least seven municipalities, which shows the growth of support for local, non-partisan initiatives.
This year, the first round of local elections ended with 44 mayors elected. There was no census in four municipalities, so the elections will be held from the beginning in those municipalities. The 2021 local elections ended in the first round with mayors elected in 29 municipalities.
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