Opposition VMRO-DPMNE wins N. Macedonia's twin elections

The VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition Tvoja Makedonija won 43.23% of the votes in the elections for members of parliament, whereas Koalicija za Evropska Idnina, a coalition led by the ruling left-wing SDSM party, was backed by 15.36%, SEC data showed.

The winning coalition will take 58 of 120 seats in parliament, followed by the coalition Evropski Front led by the Albanian Democratic Union of Integration (DUI) with 19 seats. and the SDSM-led coalition with 18 seats, based on the partial results. Evropski Front won 13.78% of the votes.

The Vlen coallition, led by ethnic Albanian opposition parties, won 13 seats in parliament, whereas the left-wing Levica party and Dvizhenje ZNAM - Za Nasa Makedonija won six seats each.

In the second round of the presidential elections held alongside the parliamentary elections, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, the candidate of VMRO-DPMNE, secured a commanding victory with 65.14% of the votes, while incumbent president Stevo Pendarovski, nominated by SDSM, trailed distant second with 29.25%. Siljanovska Davkova, poised to become North Macedonia's first female president, secured her triumph after establishing a significant lead in the first round held on April 24.

Voter turnout at the presidential elections was 46.38% some 30 minutes before the polls closed, SEC data showed. At the general elections, voter turnout was 53.41% by the same time. A total of 1.8 million citizens were eligible to vote.