VMRO-DPMNE won the runoffs in the local elections in North Macedonia in 21 out of 33 municipalities and the city of Skopje, the Central Election Commission announced the unofficial results.
In addition to Skopje, where the mayor of the city for the next four years will be Orce Georgievski, and the Skopje municipalities of Aerodrom and Karposh, the ruling party will also have mayors in the municipalities of Barvenitsa, Valandovo, Vinitsa, Debarca, Demir Kapija, Dojran, Kichevo, Konche, Kochani, Krusevo, Lozovo, Makedonski Brod, Mogila, Negotino, Probištip, Rankovce, Rosoman, Cheshinovo Obleshevo and Chucher Sandevo.
The coalition partner of VMRO-DPMNE, the coalition of Albanian parties VLEN wins the runoffs in Bogovine, Debar, Dolneni and Tetovo, the opposition SDSM in Zarnovtsi, Makedonska Kamenica and the Skopje municipality of Center, the National Alliance for Integration, led by DUI- in Studenicani, the ZNAM movement in Kumanovo, where Maksim Dimitrievski won another mayoral mandate, the Union of Roma will again have a mayor in Shuto Orizari, and an independent candidate wins in Struga.
The chairman of VMRO-DPMNE Hristijan Mickoski announced a “great electoral victory”.
“This is a victory of faith, hope, longing for the future. This is a victory for the suffering people, for their dreams, for which we are fighting, for their hopes and for our common homeland,” Mickoski announced.
According to the chairman of the opposition SDSM Venko Filipche, the results of the local elections are an incentive for the party to continue to fight strongly against the government, which will never again have the kind of support it had in the 2024 parliamentary elections. However, Levitsa, whose candidate for mayor of Skopje came in second but doubled its votes in the runoff, announced that the opposition tendencies are already rearranging behind Levitsa and called on SDSM supporters to stand behind them, as a left-wing political option.
In the Albanian political bloc, VLEN called on DUI chairman Ali Ahmeti to resign and announced that with the results of the local elections, VLEN is the “second political force in the country” and with this “the change among Albanians in (North) Macedonia is complete”, and Ali Ahmeti said that “the loss of some positions at the local level is a call for strengthening structures and better communication with the people”.
According to the results published so far, after the two rounds of local elections in North Macedonia, VMRO-DPMNE will have 55 mayoral seats, VLEN - 10, SDSM - six, the National Alliance for Integration - 4, and the ZNAM movement and the Roma Union one mayor each.
In four municipalities, the elections will be repeated due to insufficient voter turnout. When the voting will be in Vrapčishte, Gostivar, Center Zhupa and Mavrovo and Rostuše will become clear after the State Election Commission in North Macedonia announces the final official results of the local government voting.