The opposition conservative party VMRO-DPMNE appears to be leading in voter preference, according to the results of an opinion poll published by local NGO Center for Research and Political Communication (CRPC). The poll suggests that 22.8% of respondents are inclined to vote for VMRO-DPMNE, while 16.3% express support for the governing left-wing Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM). However, a significant portion of the electorate remains undecided, with 21.6% yet to disclose their choice, and 17.6% declaring their intention not to support any party.
As many as 17 parties and coalitions with 1,775 candidates are vying to enter the 120-seat parliament. Its members are elected for a four-year term.
The general elections will be the 11th so far in North Macedonia since 1990. The country proclaimed independence from the former Yugoslav Federation in 1991. The last parliament in Skopje was elected in a snap vote in July 2020.
In the 2020 general elections, the SDSM party claimed victory and formed a coalition government together with the Albanian Democratic Union of Integration (DUI), with SDSM's Zoran Zaev as prime minister. Zaev also headed the preceding government, which was formed in 2017. He resigned in 2021 following his party's defeat in the local elections, making way for Dimitar Kovacevski from the same party to take over. Kovacevski led the government until late January, when a caretaker government assumed power. This caretaker government was led by Talat Xhaferi, the first ethnic Albanian to assume the role of caretaker prime minister of the country.
A total of 1,815,350 citizens are eligible to vote in the May 8 elections, according to data by the State Election Commission (SEC). North Macedonia has a population of 1.84 million, according to the results of the 2021 national census.
The polling stations will be open from 7 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) until 7 p.m. (1800 GMT). Wednesday will be a non-working day in the whole country due to the double-header elections.
In the second round of the presidential elections, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, the candidate of VMRO-DPMNE, will face incumbent president Stevo Pendarovski, nominated by SDSM. In the first round of the presidential elections, held on April 24, Siljanovska Davkova won 40.09% of the votes, while Pendarovski garnered 19.93% of the votes, final data by the SEC shows.
