Parliamentary and presidential elections in North Macedonia, April-May 2024

Parliamentary election, May 2024

On May 8, 2024, North Macedonia held elections to fill all 120 seats in its Assembly. Voter turnout reached 55.4%, up 3.4 percentage points from 2020. The election took place in six 20-seat constituencies using closed-list proportional representation, with a majority requiring 61 seats.

In the previous snap elections, held on July 15, 2020 amid a stalled European integration process, the pro-European, center-left “We Can! More and better” coalition, led by Zoran Zaev’s Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), won by securing 35.9% of the vote (46 seats, -8). The SDSM then formed a government with the Democratic Union for Integration (BDI), which received 11.5% of the vote (15 seats, +5), and an Albanian minority alliance (ASh-Alternativa), which received 9.0% (12 seats, +9). The new government had a comfortable majority of 73 seats. The main opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE, led its own “Renewal for Macedonia” coalition; however, the conservative centre-right to right-wing list lost the election, securing only 34.6% of the vote (44 seats, -7).

Throughout 2023–24, opinion polling showed VMRO-DPMNE gaining traction. In late May 2023, VMRO-DPMNE was polling at 38.2% versus SDSM’s 21.6%; by mid-April 2024, those figures had shifted to roughly 41.2% and 20.5%, respectively. On the eve of election day, VMRO-DPMNE led with 44.6%, compared to SDSM’s 15.8%.

In the final count, the VMRO-DPMNE-led “Your Macedonia” coalition won decisively with 44.58% (+6.0 pp compared to the last opinion poll) and 58 seats (+14), falling just three seats shy of an outright majority. The incumbent SDSM-led alliance, now named “For a European Future”, collapsed to 15.8% (-20.1 pp) and 18 seats (-28). Ethnic Albanian-led “European Front” (BDI) rose to 14.1% (+2.6 pp) and 18 seats (+3), while the VLEN coalition — a political alliance representing the Albanian minority — gained 10.9% (+2.0 pp) and 14 seats (+2). The left-wing Levica improved to 7.0% (+3.0 pp) and 6 seats (+4), and newcomer For Our Macedonia (ZNAM, left-wing nationalist), founded in 2023, entered Parliament  with 5.7% and 6 seats.

The second round of the 2024 presidential election, held the same day as the general elections, was also won by the VMRO-DPMNE candidate, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova. Following the election, Hristijan Mickoski (VMRO-DPMNE) became Prime Minister on the 24th of June 2024, leading a coalition with VLEN and ZNAM.

Presidential election, April-May 2024

On April 24 2024, North Macedonia held the first round of its presidential election under a two-round system, with a second-round runoff on 8 May 2024 alongside the parliamentary election. Voter turnout was 49.9% in the first round (up 8.2 pp compared to 2019) and 47.5% in the runoff (up 0.8 pp). In the runoff, Stevo Pendarovski of the ruling pro-European centre-left Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) sought a second term against centre-right VMRO-DPMNE’s Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova.

In the previous presidential contest, held on 21 April and 5 May 2019, Pendarovski (SDSM) had defeated Siljanovska-Davkova (VMRO-DPMNE) in the runoff by 53.6% to 46.4%, becoming the first president elected under the country’s new name. Indeed, the vote followed the Prespa Agreement and the change from “Macedonia” to “North Macedonia”, a central issue that divided the two main camps — SDSM being in favour of the change whilst VMRO-DPMNE opposed it.

Throughout early 2024, opinion polls consistently showed Siljanovska-Davkova leading Pendarovski by double-digit margins. An IPIS survey conducted in February 2024 gave the conservative candidate 39.2% versus 22.3% for her social democratic opponent. A mid-March МКД.мк poll put Siljanovska-Davkova at 36.5% versus 19.8% for Pendarovski. On the eve of the vote, a CRPC poll (conducted from April 8–13) still showed Siljanovska-Davkova  ahead with 35.0%, compared to 28.8% for Pendarovski.

On election day, Siljanovska-Davkova led the first round with 41.2% of the vote, forcing a runoff against Pendarovski, who received 20.5%. The other first-round contenders included Bujar Osmani of the Democratic Union for Integration (an ethnic Albanian, social democratic party) with 13.7%; Maksim Dimitrievski of ZNAM, a left-wing nationalist party, with 9.5%; and Arben Taravari of the Alliance for Albanians (another ethnic Albanian, centre-right party), with 9.5%. In the second round, Siljanovska-Davkova’s “Your Macedonia” alliance (VMRO-DPMNE) won decisively with 69.0% of the vote (+27.8 pp on her first-round share), while Pendarovski’s “For a European Future” ticket (SDSM) received only 30.99% (+10.5 pp). This result made Siljanovska-Davkova the first woman to become president of North Macedonia.

The general elections, held the same day, were also won by the VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition, “Your Macedonia.”