N. Macedonia's presidential race goes to runoff, Siljanovska Davkova leads

Based on 99.85% of the ballots counted, Siljanovska Davkova won 40.08% of the vote, data by the State Election Commission (SEC) shows.

To win in the first round, a candidate had to be backed by more than 50% of all eligible voters.

In the second round of the elections, Siljanovska Davkova will face incumbent president Stevo Pendarovski, nominated by the governing left-wing Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM), who won 19.93% of the votes on Wednesday.

Bujar Osmani of the Albanian Democratic Union of Integration (DUI) secured 13.36% of the vote, followed by Maksim Dimitrievski of ZNAM - Za Nasa Makedonija with 9.26%, and Arben Taravari of the Alliance for the Albanians with 9.21%. Biljana Vankovska Cvetkovska of the left-wing Levica party garnered 4.55% of the votes, while Stevce Jakimovski of GROM trailed with 0.90%.

Voter turnout stood at 48.38% by 18:30 CET, according to SEC data. The polling stations were open from 07:00 to 19:00 CET. Turnout of at least 40% is required for the second round of the elections to be valid. The second round will coincide with the general elections.

A total of 1,814,317 citizens were eligible to vote on Wednesday. North Macedonia has a population of 1.84 million, according to the results of the 2021 national census.

The president is elected for a five-year term in office. Only people aged 40 and over are eligible for the post, which is largely ceremonial. The president proposes a prime minister to parliament and is commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces.

Wednesday’s presidential elections was North Macedonia's seventh since the country proclaimed its independence from the former Yugoslav Federation in 1991.

In the 2019 elections, Pendarovski, nominated by SDSM, was elected for a five-year term on 51.66% of the ballots cast versus 44.73% for VRMO-DPMNE's candidate, Siljanovska Davkova.

Kiro Gligorov was the first president of the newly independent country, serving from 1991 until 1999. He was succeeded by Boris Trajkovski, who died in a plane crash in Bosnia in February 2004. Trajkovski was succeeded by Branko Crvenkovski, a candidate of SDSM, in 2004. Gjorge Ivanov served as the fourth president of North Macedonia in two terms from 2009 to 2019.