SEC declares final results: Pendarovski 1, Siljanovska 2 on ballot in second round of elections

(Patria) - The State Election Commission (SEC) of North Macedonia announced the final results of the first round of presidential elections.

The candidates of the opposition VMRO/DPMNE Gordana Siljanovska Davkova and the ruling SDSM and current president Stevo Pendarovski advanced to the second round.

- Following the vote held on April 24, in the second round, which will be held on May 8, the following candidates for president will be voted on: Stevo Pendarovski under number 1, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova under number 2 - said the president of the SEC, Aleksandar Daštevski, at the 100th session of this body.

According to him, in the first round, out of 1,814,317 registered voters, 905,622 voted, there were 908,720 unused ballots, 881,040 valid, and 24,560 invalid ballots.

According to the final results of the SEC, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova won 363,085 (40.09 percent), and Stevo Pendarovski won 180,499 votes (19.93 percent).

The candidate of the largest Albanian party DUI and current Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, received 120,811 votes, or 13.34 percent, and the candidate of the Albanian opposition, the mayor of Gostivar, Arben Taravari, received 83,337 votes or 9.2 percent.

The mayor of the Skopje municipality of Karpoš and leader of the Grom party, Stevčo Jakimovski, received 8,121 (0.90 percent), the candidate of "Levica", Biljana Vankovska, received 41,331 votes (4.56 percent), and the mayor of Kumanovo and leader of the "Znam" party, Maksim Dimitrievski, received 83,855 votes (9.26 percent).

On Wednesday, April 24, Macedonian citizens elected between seven candidates in the first round of the seventh presidential elections.

The second round of the presidential elections will be held together with the parliamentary elections on Wednesday, May 8, and for North Macedonia to have a head of state, the turnout must be at least 40 percent of the total number of registered voters.