The fifth local elections are being held in Macedonia Sunday (24 March), in which citizens are electing mayors and council members in 80 municipalities and the City of Skopje. At 2,976 polling stations, 1,743,403 citizens are entitled to vote for 350 candidates for mayors and 480 lists of candidates for council members.
According to the State Election Commission, by 12.00 hrs, 221,045 citizens, or 12.86 percent of the eligible voters, went to the polls. The local elections are monitored by 410 foreign and 8,379 domestic observers. The vote began at 7.00 hrs in the morning and ends at 19.00 hrs in the evening.
The turnout is the highest in Kratovo, where 22.29 percent of the eligible voters cast ballots by 12.00 hrs, and is the lowest in Bogovinje – 6.5 percent.
The second round of vote will be held within 14 days of the first round day.
According to the civil association MOST, all polling stations opened this morning as certain irregularities were detected at few of them.
President Gjorge Ivanov said after casting his ballot he expected today’s local elections to go peacefully and the winners and those deserving people’s trust to be declared tonight.