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Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Citizens of North Macedonia are voting today in the first round of local elections for mayors and municipal councilors in all 80 municipalities, including the City of Skopje.
Local elections are also held in the Albanian municipalities of North Macedonia.
Over 1 million 800 thousand citizens are eligible to vote, while 112 thousand are registered on the special electoral list as persons living abroad. According to the State Election Commission, it is reported that by 1:30 p.m., 335,244 citizens, or 20.12 percent, have voted.
These local government elections are the eighth since the country's independence, with citizens voting for 309 mayoral candidates and 576 lists of councilors.
22 political parties, 19 coalitions and 119 civic initiatives or independent candidacies are participating in the race.
According to polls conducted during this period, the result in municipalities with a Macedonian majority is expected to be predictable, while in Albanian municipalities a different situation appears.
VMRO-DMPNE is the leading party in the polls with 26.7%, followed by the Social Democratic League of Macedonia with 11.1% and the third force is DUI and the National Alliance for Integration with 9.9%. Last comes the VALENT Coalition with 7.5%.
Meanwhile, the Social Democratic Alliance is in an internal crisis after losing heavily in the 2024 elections and is struggling to maintain influence in several municipalities.
Meanwhile, in about 15 municipalities with an Albanian majority, the competition is fierce between the DUI and the opposition coalition National Alliance for Integration (AKI) and the VLEN coalition, which is currently a partner in government with VMRO-DPMNE.
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