Skopje, 6 May 2024 (MIA) - Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, backed by VMRO-DPMNE's coalition, and Stevo Pendarovski, backed by SDSM, are the two candidates that will face off in the second round of North Macedonia’s presidential elections held on May 8, alongside the country’s parliamentary elections.

In order to be elected in the second round of the elections a candidate has to win the majority of votes, as long as more than 40 percent of registered voters turn out to vote. If these conditions aren’t met, then the elections are set to be repeated.

If the necessary turnout threshold of 40 percent is met and a president is elected, an inauguration ceremony will be held on May 12.

Seven candidates were running in the first round of the elections on April 24, in which Siljanovska-Davkova won 363.085 votes, while Pendarovski won 180.499. The turnout was 48.38 percent, with 828.402 voters voting out of 1.814.317 included in the Electoral Roll.

This is the second time that Siljanovska-Davkova and Pendarovski are facing each other in the race for president. When the two clashed in the second round of the 2019 presidential elections, Pendarovski came out victorious and was elected president. 

At the May 8 double elections, voters will be allowed to enter polling stations only once and will be asked to choose whether to vote in both elections, or only in the presidential or parliamentary elections.

A day before the vote, on Tuesday, the first to vote at the elections will be the infirm, inmates, persons in retirement homes, as well as nationals registered to vote in the diaspora who are only eligible to vote in the presidential elections.

The vote on Wednesday, May 8, will be held in 3480 polling stations across the country. It will begin at 7 am and end at 7 pm. Results are expected to be known by midnight at the latest. 

Photo: MIA Archive