2024 North Macedonian parliamentary election
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Parliamentary elections were held in North Macedonia on 8 May 2024. The slow pace of EU integration and corruption were the main issues during the campaign.[1]
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All 120 seats in the Assembly 61 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 55.44% ( 3.42pp) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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The right-wing opposition coalition led by the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party decisively won the election receiving 45% of the vote and 58 seats which were three short of an outright majority. The incumbent center-left coalition led by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia lost 28 seats and collapsed to 16% of the popular vote.[2] The second round of the 2024 presidential election was held on the same day which was also won by the VMRO-DPMNE candidate, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova.[3][4]
Electoral system
edit
Of the 123 seats in the Assembly of the Republic (Sobranie), 120 are elected from six 20-seat constituencies in North Macedonia using closed list proportional representation, with seats allocated using the d'Hondt method. The remaining three seats are elected by Macedonians living abroad,[5] but are only filled if the number of votes exceeds that of the elected candidate with the fewest votes in North Macedonia in the previous election. If a list crosses this threshold, it wins one seat; to win two seats, a list needs to win twice the number of votes, and to win three seats the threshold is three times the number of votes. These seats were not filled in the 2016 elections due to insufficient turnout.[6]
For this election, more than 1,700 candidates were running for the Sobranie.[7]
Campaign
editAmong significant issues during the election was corruption. The opposition VMRO-DPMNE accused the ruling coalition of presiding over a "pandemic" of corruption in the country, while the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, a member of the coalition, supported the confiscation of illegally acquired property from corrupt officials. The ruling government supported revising the Constitution to include recognition of a Bulgarian minority in North Macedonia, a condition set by Bulgaria to allow the country's accession to the European Union. The VMRO-DPMNE called the acceptance of such conditions a "capitulation" to Bulgaria. It has also expressed interest in forming a coalition government with the VLEN coalition comprising ethnic Albanian parties[7] but has ruled out entering into one with the Democratic Union for Integration, which is part of the ruling coalition and which it had called "corrupt".[8] The VMRO-DPMNE also pledged to create tens of thousands of jobs amid the country's sluggish economic situation, mass emigration and rising inflation.[9]
Opinion polls
edit
| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size |
For a European Future |
VLEN | European Front |
Your Macedonia | Levica | ZNAM | Others | Lead | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SDSM | LDP/DOM | Besa | LD | A | ASh[a] | BDI | PDSh | VMRO-DPMNE | ||||||||
| 2024 election | 8 May 2024 | – | 15.36 | 10.72 | 13.78 |
43.32 |
6.82 | 5.57 | 4.43 | 27.87 | ||||||
| 2024 presidential election | 24 Apr 2024 | – | 20.5 | 9.5 | 13.7 | 41.2 | 4.7 | 9.5 | 0.9 [b] | 20.7 | ||||||
| CRPC | 20 Apr 2024 | 1250 | 25.6 | — | 14.5 | 9.5 | 38 | 7.2 | 5.0 | 0.2 | 11.2 | |||||
| МКД.мк | 8–13 Apr 2024 | 1200 | 22.8 | 9.9 | 12.7 | 41.2 | 6.5 | 6.1 | 0.8 | 18.4 | ||||||
| CRPC | 8–13 Apr 2024 | 1210 | 26.8 | — | 12.7 | 11.3 | 37.5 | 6.4 | 5.3 | — | 10.7 | |||||
| МКД.мк | 15–24 Mar 2024 | 1200 | 16.0 | 11.5 | 1.6 | 13.0 | — | 40.8 | 7.9 | 8.2 | 0.7 | 24.8 | ||||
| CRPC | 4–7 Mar 2024 | 1085 | 24.6 | — | 13.6 | 11.6 | 39.4 | 5.5 | 5.3 | — | 14.8 | |||||
| IPIS | 20 Feb 2024 | 1212 | 21.8 | — | 8.6 | 4.1 | 11.5 | — | 38.6 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 2.4 | 18.8 | |||
| IPDV | 5–9 Nov 2023 | 1050 | 23.0 | — | 4.4 | 3.3 | 1.6 | 8.2 | 9.7 | — | 35.6 | 5.9 | — | 8.2 | 12.6 | |
| IPIS | 29 Oct 2023 | 1055 | 21.8 | — | 4.4 | 1.9 | 3.5 | 3.9 | 10.8 | — | 36.2 | 6.8 | 5.6 | 2.1 | 17.4 | |
| IPIS | 23–26 May 2023 | 1,112 | 21.6 | — | 4.4 | — | — | 5 | 12.4 | — | 38.2 | 12.3 | 5.7 | 0.8 | 16.6 | |
| IRI | 8 Apr – 4 May 2023 | 1,204 | 17 | — | 7 | — | 2 | 8 | 14 | — | 32 | 11 | — | 7[c] | 15 | |
| NDI | 13–14 Apr 2023 | 1,003 | 23.6 | — | 6.6 | — | — | 6.3 | 11.4 | — | 39.6 | 10.3 | 3.1 | 2 | 16 | |
| IPIS | Mar 2023 | 1,114 | 27.1 | — | 8.5 | 4.9 | 27.1[d] | — | 39.2 | 10.1 | 9.2 | — | 11.1 | |||
| IDSCS | 22 Feb – 9 Mar 2023 | 1,002 | 24 | — | 2 | — | — | 7 | 18 | — | 38 | 9 | — | — | 14 | |
| МКД.мк | 6–16 Feb 2023 | 1,200 | 22.3 | 0.2 | 4.1 | — | — | 6.7 | 14.7 | — | 39.2 | 8.1 | — | 3.4 | 16.9 | |
| IRI | 19 Dec 2022 | 1,200 | 16.3 | — | 7.0 | — | — | 7.8 | 13.3 | — | 33.3 | 12.3 | — | 8.8 | 17 | |
| МКД.мк | 7–13 Nov 2022 | 1,200 | 20.3 | 0.9 | 7.3 | — | 3.5 | 3.9 | 13.6 | 0.7 | 40.9 | 8.9 | — | 1.1 | 20.6 | |
| IPIS | 4–6 May 2022 | 1,111 | 30.1 | — | 2.8 | — | 1.9 | 7.1 | 13.4 | — | 39.4 | 5.4 | — | — | 9.3 | |
| IPIS | 19–22 Oct 2021 | 1,102 | 28.9 | 2.8 | 2.6 | — | 8.0 | 11.0 | — | 37.7 | 6.6 | — | — | 8.8 | ||
| 2021 Skopje election | 17 Oct 2021 | – | 24.04 | 4.20 | 1.00 | — | 5.17 | 11.91 | — | 35.89 | 9.19 | — | 4.17[e] | 11.9 | ||
| Kantar TNS Brima | 27 Aug – 9 Sep 2021 | 1,201 | 30.8 | 7.4 | — | — | 9.5 | 11.4 | 1.7 | 27.6 | 7.4 | — | — | 3.2 | ||
| Kantar TNS Brima | 28 May – 16 Jun 2021 | 1,194 | 33.0 | 6.8 | — | — | 10.3 | 11.0 | 2.8 | 28.5 | 7.5 | — | — | 4.5 | ||
| Kantar TNS Brima | 4–6 Apr 2021 | 1,222 | 27.9 | 6.6 | — | — | 8.2 | 11.5 | 1.6 | 27.9 | 9.8 | — | — | Tie | ||
| IPIS | 1–4 Mar 2021 | 1,109 | 31.9 | 1.7 | — | 8.9 | 10.4 | — | 34.7 | 6.6 | — | — | 2.8 | |||
| M-Prospect | 16–24 Dec 2020 | 1,000 | 31.7 | 4.1 | — | 0.9 | 7.8 | 11.4 | 2.4 | 30.8 | 10.6 | — | 0.3[f] | 0.9 | ||
| 2020 parliamentary election | 15 Jul 2020 | – | 35.89 | — | 8.95 | 11.48 | 1.53 | 34.57 | 4.10 | — | 3.49 | 1.3 | ||||
Hypothetical polls
editNikola Gruevski forms a new party
edit| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size |
SDSM | LDP/DOM | Besa | PDSh | A | ASh | VMRO-DPMNE | BDI | Levica | ZNAM | Gruevski | Others | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stratum R&D | 1–6 Oct 2023 | 1,112 | 27.5 | — | 7.3 | 4.7 | 17.6 | 10.8 | 9.1 | 3.1 | 16.0 | 3.8 | 9.9 | ||
Results
editThe election resulted in a landslide victory for the national conservative VMRO-DPMNE and its Your Macedonia coalition, winning 58 seats in the Sobranie, just three shy of an outright majority. Their main rivals, the incumbent pro-European SDSM and its For a European Future coalition, ended up in distant third place, winning 18 seats, their worst ever result. All other parties and coalitions that won seats include: the European Front coalition with 18 seats and the VLEN Coalition with 14 seats (both representing national minorities), the left-wing nationalist The Left with six seats, as well as the left-wing populist For Our Macedonia Movement (ZNAM) with six seats.[10] Turnout was 55%. While initially allocated 19 and 13 seats respectively, following repollings in Ohrid, Struga and other areas on 22 May 2024 led to the European Front losing one seat in favor of the VLEN coalition allowing SDSM and its For a European Future coalition to become the second biggest group in the Assembly.[11]
 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
| Your Macedonia[g][h] | 436,407 | 44.58 | 58 | +14 | |
| For a European Future[i][j] | 154,447 | 15.78 | 18 | –28 | |
| European Front[k][l] | 137,690 | 14.06 | 18 | +3 | |
| VLEN Coalition[m][n] | 106,937 | 10.92 | 14 | +2 | |
| The Left | 68,637 | 7.01 | 6 | +4 | |
| For Our Macedonia | 56,232 | 5.74 | 6 | New | |
| Brave for Macedonia[o] | 4,522 | 0.46 | 0 | –1 | |
| New Alternative | 3,515 | 0.36 | 0 | 0 | |
| Abaja | 2,908 | 0.30 | 0 | New | |
| Your Party | 1,794 | 0.18 | 0 | 0 | |
| United Macedonia | 1,688 | 0.17 | 0 | New | |
| Homeland Macedonia | 1,099 | 0.11 | 0 | New | |
| Macedonian Era Third – Sovereignists | 966 | 0.10 | 0 | New | |
| Democrats Skopje | 912 | 0.09 | 0 | 0 | |
| The Right | 535 | 0.05 | 0 | New | |
| Labour Party | 450 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 | |
| European Civic Movement | 241 | 0.02 | 0 | New | |
| Total | 978,980 | 100.00 | 120 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 978,980 | 97.27 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 27,451 | 2.73 | |||
| Total votes | 1,006,431 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 1,815,350 | 55.44 | |||
| Source: SEC | |||||
Aftermath
editSocial Democrat leader Dimitar Kovačevski conceded defeat and announced that he would resign as party leader once a successor had been elected. VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski said that “the people have taught the government its most important lesson and saved their country" and pledged to hold into account “every last person who committed a crime and committed corruption".[3]
According to international observers, the elections were "competitive and an extensive and pluralistic campaign helped voters to make an informed choice, but marred by negative rhetoric with nationalistic slogans, as well as shortcomings in the legislation and insufficient oversight of campaign finances".[12]
On 6 June, Mickoski was formally asked by President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova to form the next government, after he had unveiled a coalition agreement with the VLEN Coalition and For Our Macedonia (ZNAM).[13] The investiture vote for Mickoski took place on 24 June, with 77 votes in favor, 22 against and 21 absent.[14] The cabinet is expected to have 24 members, of which sixteen from the VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition Your Macedonia, six from the VLEN coalition block of Albanian opposition parties, and two from ZNAM.[15]
Reactions
edit
Hungary — Prime Minister Viktor Orbán congratulated the VMRO-DPMNE on its "well-deserved and historic victory" in the presidential and parliamentary elections.[16] Orban added that he looked forward to working together on giving North Macedonia a "new momentum to the EU accession process".[17]
United States — Ambassador Angela Aggeler expressed her congratulations "to all those citizens who exercised their right to vote in the presidential and parliamentary elections."[18]
Notes
edit- ^ In early 2024 two factions emerged within ASh. A faction led by incumbent leader Arben Taravari intended to join VLEN and he later became the coalition's presidential candidate, while a faction led by former leader Ziadin Sela eventually joined the European Front coalition. Both wings of the party held conferences and elected their respective leader as party chairman. The Macedonian electoral commission lists ASh as a member of VLEN, while a court decision ruled that Sela is the official party leader. The decision is being appealed.
- ^ Bravely for Macedonia
- ^ DPTM 2%
- ^ BDI and SDSM together
- ^ Green Humane City
- ^ Integra – Macedonian Conservative Party
- ^ Consists of VMRO-DPMNE, Socialist Party of Macedonia (SPM), Democratic Party of Serbs in Macedonia (DPSM), Democratic Union (DS), MAAK – Conservative Party (MAAK), Movement for the National Unity of the Turkish (DNET), Serbian Progressive Party in Macedonia (SNSM), Bosniak People's Party (BNP), Democratic Forces of the Roma (DSR), Party of United Democrats of Macedonia (PODEM), Roma Alliance of Macedonia (ROM), Party of the Vlachs of Macedonia (PVM), VOICE for Macedonia (GLAS), New Liberal Party (NLP), Social Democratic Union (SDU), Democratic Party of the Roma (DPR), Workers’ Agricultural Party of Macedonia (RZPRM), United Party for Roma Equality (OPER), Dignity, Permanent Macedonian Radical Unification (TMRO), United for Macedonia and Macedonian Concept (MK).
- ^ 55 seats won by VMRO-DPMNE, 2 by SPM and 1 by DPSM.
- ^ Consists of Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), New Social Democratic Party (NSDP), VMRO – People's Party (VMRO–NP), Party for the Movement of Turks (PDT), Democratic Renewal of Macedonia (DOM), Party of United Pensioners and Citizens of Macedonia (POPGM), Serbian Party in Macedonia (SSM), Democratic Union of the Vlachs of Macedonia (DSVM), Union of Roma in Macedonia (SRM), Party of Democratic Action of Macedonia (SDAM), Right (Desnica), Party for the Democratic Prosperity of the Roma (PDPR) and Party for Social and Economic Progress (POEN).
- ^ 15 seats won by SDSM, 2 by NDSP and 1 by LDP.
- ^ Consists of Democratic Union for Integration (BDI), Alliance for Albanians (ASH) (Sela's - led), Democratic Party of Albanians (PDSH), Democratic European Party (EDP), People's Movement (LP), Democratic Party of Turks (TDP), Movement of Turks for Justice and Democracy (THDH), Roma Union (UR) and Bosniak Democratic Union (BDS).
- ^ 10 seats won by BDI, 4 by ASH, 1 by PDSH, 1 by LP, 1 by TDP and 1 by THDH.
- ^ Consists of Democratic Movement (LD), Alternativa (AAA), Alliance for Albanians (ASH) (Taravari's - led) and Besa Movement (BESA).
- ^ 6 seats won by ASH, 3 by BESA, 3 by LD and 2 by AAA.
- ^ Consists of Citizen Option for Macedonia (GROM), Party for the Full Emancipation of the Roma of Macedonia (PCERM) and Integra - Macedonian Conservative Party (Integra)
References
edit- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 May 2024. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Aleksandar Vasovic (8 May 2024). "North Macedonia opposition wins big on election night". Reuters.
- ^ a b "North Macedonia elects first woman president as center-left incumbents suffer historic losses". Associated Press. 9 May 2024. Archived from the original on 9 May 2024. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
- ^ "Parliamentary elections in North Macedonia: The date when they will be held is revealed". CNA. 4 December 2023. Archived from the original on 9 January 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
- ^ Electoral system Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine IPU
- ^ Early Parliamentary Elections 11 December 2016 Archived 23 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine OSCE
- ^ a b "North Macedonia holds presidential and parliamentary elections Wednesday". Associated Press. 8 May 2024. Archived from the original on 8 May 2024. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
- ^ "North Macedonia: Frustrated voters set to punish government". DW. 8 May 2024. Archived from the original on 7 May 2024. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
- ^ "N. Macedonia's nationalist opposition sweeps elections, setting rocky path for EU accession". France 24. 9 May 2024. Archived from the original on 9 May 2024. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
- ^ "Претседателски и парламентарни избори 2024 – 08.05.2024". Државна Изборна Комисија (in Macedonian). 8 May 2024. Archived from the original on 23 May 2024. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
- ^ "Parliamentary elections revoting - 22.05.2024". Државна Изборна Комисија (in Macedonian). 22 May 2024.
- ^ "North Macedonia's elections were competitive and voters well informed, although the process remains insufficiently regulated: international observers". OSCE. 9 May 2024. Archived from the original on 9 May 2024. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
- ^ "North Macedonia's center-right leader given official mandate to form government after election win". Associated Press. 6 June 2024. Archived from the original on 6 June 2024. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
- ^ Europe Elects [@europeelects] (24 June 2024). "North Macedonia: investiture vote on Hristijan Mickoski (VMRO DPMNE-EPP):
Yes: 77
No: 22
Abstention/Did not vote: 21
As a majority has voted "yes", Mickoski (VMRO DPMNE-EPP) is approved as Prime Minister. He will form a government consisting of VMRO DPMNE (EPP), VREDI alliance (~NI), ZNAM (*) and other smaller parties" (Tweet) – via Twitter. - ^ "North Macedonia's Parliament Elects New Right-Wing Government". Radio Free Europe. 23 June 2024. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
- ^ "Viktor Orbán Welcomes a Conservative Win in North Macedonian Elections". Hungary Today. 9 May 2024. Archived from the original on 10 May 2024. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
- ^ "Viktor Orbán Welcomes a Conservative Win in North Macedonian Elections". Hungary Today. 9 May 2024. Archived from the original on 9 May 2024. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
- ^ Тимковска, Александра (9 May 2024). "Агелер со срдечни честитки до Силјановска-Давкова". Вечер, прв дознава. (in Macedonian). Archived from the original on 9 May 2024. Retrieved 9 May 2024.