North Macedonia’s Prime Minister and head of VMRO DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski celebrates with his wife Roza and supporters in Skopje on Sunday after the runoff vote. Photo: EPA/GEORGI LICOVSKI.
After Sunday’s local election runoffs, the ruling VMRO DPMNE party celebrated victory in 21 out of the 33 municipalities where second rounds were held, confirming its overall dominance at the local elections.
In total, after the two election rounds, the party is set to govern 54 of the country’s 81 municipalities. This is 12 more than in the previous 2021 local polls, when it won in 42.
The prize win, the capital Skopje, also fell into its hands, with its candidate, Orce Gjorgjievski, winning more than 95,000 votes. The underdog opposition Levica [Left] party challenger, Amar Mecinovic, ended up in second place, despite doubling his support from some 30,000 in the first round to more than 61,000 votes.
“I promise hard, diligent work. Let us all unite around the policies of VMRO DPMNE and the coalition. I call on all citizens, this is our common country and we will build it together,” Prime Minister and VMRO DPMNE party leader Hristijan Mickoski said on Sunday evening in the western town of Kicevo, where the party also celebrated victory.
In the ethnic Macedonian bloc, the main opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, won only three mayoral seats in the second round, upping its score to just six mayoral seats, a big fall from 16 in 2021.
One of the SDSM’s vice presidents, Ana Cupeska, has submitted her resignation from her post. The party leader, Venko Filipce, who took over the post last year, on Sunday reiterated that he does not plan to resign.
In the ethnic Albanian camp, the junior ruling Vlen [It’s worth it] party held its own against its main rival, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI. The relative newcomer to the political stage is to have mayors in nine municipalities. The DUI and its allies hold only four, a steep decline from the 11 mayoral seats won in 2021.
Albanians are the second largest ethnicity in North Macedonia, after Macedonians.
The Levica party, which had hoped to make a breakthrough in these polls, failed to win any mayoral races after its candidate in Skopje, Amar Mecinovic did not win. But its good showing in Skopje, seemingly attracting voters who had been supporters of the SDSM, prompted the party to celebrate regardless.
“I also want to thank the SDSM voters. I believe the dam has broken and that we are your option … I call on you to stay behind the left option, so that the left bloc can consolidate and can strike at the VMRO DPMNE regime in every possible way,” Meciovic said on Sunday evening.
The country’s Central Electoral Commission is expected to issue the final results in the coming days.