Skopje, 30 October 2021 (MIA) – Election silence begins at midnight as the 12-day campaign ahead of Sunday’s second round of the 2021 local elections ends after the parties, coalitions and their candidates presented election programs to voters. The first round took place on October 17. Election silence ends on Sunday at 7 pm. Media outlets may continue to report on the election process, but all forms of election campaigning and advertising in the media are banned, according to the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services. According to the Electoral Code, violations of election silence include any broadcasting of information, photos, audio and audiovisual materials related to the elections or of their participants; any forms of media reporting overtly or covertly promoting someone’s campaign that may influence voters; data revealing the identity of political entities or individuals involved in incidents or irregularities on election day; and statements from election candidates, political party members, and government officials. On Saturday, people self-isolating after contracting COVID-19, sick and frail people are eligible to cast their votes a day earlier. Also, inmates, people in house arrest and internally displaced people will be voting on Saturday in the runoff. These are the seventh local elections the country has organized since declaring independence in which people elected mayors and councilors in 80 municipalities and the City of Skopje. In the first round, voters elected 32 mayors as well as members of municipal councils. In the first round, candidates for mayors from VMRO-DPMNE’s coalition won in 21 municipalities, while those from SDSM’s coalition in nine and DUI in two municipalities. Forty-four municipalities in North Macedonia will organize a second round on Sunday. A total of 1,353,990 people are eligible to vote in 2,481 polling stations nationwide. North Macedonia is introducing biometric fingerprint identification of voters in these local elections for the first time ever. General COVID-19 protection measures will also be in force on Election Day.