SEC: Siljanovska and Pendarovski in the second round of presidential elections in North Macedonia – Region

In the first round, Siljanovska won twice as many votes as her main opponent, from whom she was defeated in the second round of the previous presidential elections in 2019.

SEC President Aleksandar Daštevski, at the press conference, assessed that the first round of presidential elections passed peacefully and that all participants were dignified in their behavior and actions, and that there were no provocations.

Daštevski stated that based on 89.97 processed polling stations, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova won 324,177 votes or 39.97 percent, and that Stevo Pendarovski received 161,393 votes or 19.9 percent.

According to SEC data, the candidate of the largest Albanian party DUI and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, received 110,903 votes, or 13.68 percent, and the candidate of the Albanian opposition, the mayor of Gostivar, Arben Taravari, received 78,110 votes, or 9.63 percent.

The mayor of the municipality of Kaproš in Skopje and the leader of the Grom party Stevčo Jakimovski received 7,499 votes (0.92 percent), the candidate of “Levice” Biljana Vankovska 35,949 votes (4.43 percent), and the mayor of Kumanovo and the leader of the “Znam” party Maksim Dimitrievski 70,996 votes ( 8.75 percent).

According to data from the SEC website, Pendarovski won Siljanovska Davkova five years ago in the second round of elections with 435,656 votes (51.65 percent) to 377,346 (44.75 percent).

On Sunday, the citizens of North Macedonia chose between seven candidates in the first round of the seventh presidential election.

The second round of presidential elections will be held together with parliamentary elections on Wednesday, May 8.