Voters in North Macedonia cast ballots in parliamentary election and presidential runoff

(8 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Skopje - 08 May 2024
1. Wide of Skopje downtown
2. Close of North Macedonian flag
3. Wide of voters entering the polling station
4. Various of presidential candidates list (Stevo Pendarovski and Gordana Siljanovska Davkova)
5. Various of voting procedures
6. Various of voters casting their vote
7. SOUNDBITE (Macedonian) Savo Gerasimovski, voter:
“It is expected that the government will change and a new government will come, this is it. How is it going to be, we will see. We have been changing the parties for 30 years and nothing has changed for real. We hope for something better this time.“
8. Pan from North Macedonian flag to the polling station
9. SOUNDBITE (Macedonian) Gordana Gerasimovski, voter:
“We should have been part of European Union long time ago. This is what we are lacking, but we hope that the time will get us where we wanted to be for so long.”
10. Various of voters casting their vote
11. SOUNDBITE (Macedonian) Atanas Lovacev, voter:
“Yes (I expect changes) because the actual government did nothing. But, I don’t expect anything from the new government either, they all promise but the result is nothing.”
12.Various of Skopje street
STORYLINE:
Voters in North Macedonia were casting ballots on Wednesday in a parliamentary election and a presidential runoff dominated by issues including the country's path toward European Union membership, corruption and the economy.
The 61-year-old incumbent in the presidential election, Stevo Pendarovski, faces Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, 70. Pendarovski is supported by the ruling center-left coalition, while Siljanovska-Davkova is backed by the center-right opposition.
Pendarovski and Siljanovska-Davkova squared off in the last election, in 2019, and Pendarovski had won with 53.8% of the vote.
The first round of the latest presidential election, on April 24, was seen as a barometer for the parliamentary election.
It gave a clear lead to Siljanovska-Davkova, who garnered 41.2%, compared to 20.5% for Pendarovski.
Turnout must be at least 40% in the runoff for the result to be valid.
With the presidency being a largely ceremonial post, the parliamentary election is considered the more important one.
More than 1,700 candidates are vying for the 120 seats in the unicameral assembly.
There are also three seats reserved for expatriates, but last time around, in 2020, turnout was too low for them to be filled. Voters will be heading to 3,400 polling stations across the country.
Polls have consistently shown the center-right VMRO-DPMNE party, at the head of a 22-party coalition called “Your Macedonia,” with a double-digit lead over the coalition “For A European Future” led by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, or SDSM.
There are also two coalitions representing ethnic Albanians, who account for a quarter of North Macedonia’s population: European Front is led by the Democratic Union of Integration (DUI), which has been the coalition partner of all governments of the past 20 years, whether center-right or center left.
But VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski has expressed the desire to ally with the VLEN (“Worth”) four-party coalition, which has positioned itself to the right of DUI.
The month-long campaign focused on North Macedonia’s progress toward joining the 27-nation EU, the rule of law, corruption, fighting poverty and tackling the country’s sluggish economy.
North Macedonia’s path to the EU is being blocked by neighboring Bulgaria, which demands that the constitution be amended to recognize a Bulgarian minority.
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[@juliefall2892]

Interesting they use fingerprint for security , good idea

[@skeetrix5577]

who gives a shit about north Macedonia lol