The presidential elections in North Macedonia, more than 90 percent of the votes are counted, the VMRO candidate leads

In North Macedonia, the State Electoral Commission has counted over 90 percent of the votes from all polling stations, and the candidate of the opposition party, VMRO DPMNE, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, is convincingly leading the race for the head of the state.

The ranking so far is:

Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, VMRO candidate, with 325,150 votes or 39.95 percent

Stevo Pendarovski, the SDSM candidate, with 162,062 votes or 19.91 percent

Bujar Osmani with 111,311 votes or 13.68 percent, followed by the other candidates.

The State Election Commission reported a turnout of over 47%, about 9% more than in 2019. According to these results, the new president will be elected in the second round of elections, where the two candidates with the most vote. This is because in the first round it is required that the president be elected with 50 percent of the votes, with the condition that the participation in the election is over 40 percent of the electorate.

The Albanian parties are competing with two candidates, with Bujar Osmanin, the European Front, under the leadership of DUI, and the united Albanian opposition, in the VLEN coalition, with Arben Taravar.

Bujar Osmani leads in Struga and in the Municipality of Tetova, Arben Tavari leads in the Municipality of Gostivar by a narrow margin from Bujar Osmani. According to the first results, he is third with 111,311 votes or 13.68 percent of votes won.

Part of the presidential race are Maksim Dimitrievski, the mayor of the municipality of Kumanova, Stev?e Jakimovski, the mayor of the district of Karpoš in Skopje, and Biljana Vankovska, candidate of the "Left" party. Of these candidates, Dimitrievski received the most votes, respectively 42,296 votes or 8.09%.

Seven candidates competed in the race for the head of state.