Local elections in North Macedonia - Ruling party VMRO-DPMNE declares convincing victory after first round
The ruling party, VMRO-DPMNE, declared a convincing victory after the first round of local elections in North Macedonia, on October 19.
VMRO-DPMNE will have mayors in 30 out of a total of 80 municipalities, and expects to win about 20 more in the second round, including the city of Skopje, where its candidate has an advantage.
Of the 75.37 percent of votes processed so far, VMRO-DPMNE mayoral candidates lead in a total of 54 municipalities, the Social Democratic League of Macedonia (SDSM) in 8, the VALENT Coalition in 8, and the National Alliance for Integration in 5 municipalities.
Prime Minister and leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, expressed satisfaction with the result, as the total number of votes won is greater than in previous parliamentary and local elections.
The opposition Social Democratic League of Macedonia (SDSM) suffered another defeat after last year's parliamentary and presidential elections. However, SDSM will have mayors in Kriva Palanka, Bogdanci and Krivogaštan, while it will advance to the second round in about twenty other municipalities.
In the Albanian political bloc, the VLEN coalition won convincingly in the key municipality of Chair and Tetovo. In the first round, the group triumphed in four other municipalities. Meanwhile, the National Alliance for Integration (AKI) coalition won the mayoral elections in Gostivar, Lipkovo, Caska and Plasnica.
The State Election Commission announced that voter turnout was 46.48 percent, close to the level of the previous elections, when it reached 51.44 percent. According to the electoral list, 1,832,415 citizens were eligible to vote.
309 candidates competed for 81 mayoral positions, while over 10,490 candidates from 576 lists competed for seats on municipal councils. The second round of elections is scheduled for November 2.

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