Presidential elections were held in North Macedonia on 24 April 2024. Incumbent Stevo Pendarovski of the ruling centre-left Social Democrats ran for re-election to a second term.
No candidate received a majority of the vote in the first round, with right-wing challenger Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova placing first by a wide margin with 41% of the vote, while Pendarovski finished second with 20% of the vote. The two faced off in the second round run-off on 8 May, which was held alongside parliamentary elections. In the second round, Siljanovska defeated the incumbent Pendarovski with 69% of the vote and became the first woman to be elected president of North Macedonia. She was inaugurated on 12 May.
Electoral system
The President of North Macedonia is elected using a modified two-round system; a candidate can only be elected in the first round of voting if they receive the equivalent of over 50% of the vote from all registered voters. In the second round, voter turnout must be at least 40% for the result to be deemed valid. Before 2009, the constitution required turnout in the second round to be 50% to validate the result. However, the XXXI amendment approved on 9 January 2009 lowered the threshold to 40%, as the then-government feared the trend of reducing turnouts would lead to presidential elections being frequently invalidated. In the 2009 presidential elections, second round turnout was just 42.6%.
In order to contest the election, potential candidates are required to collect signatures from at least 10,000 registered voters or 30 MPs.
The constitution mandates that the President must be over 40 years of age and have lived in the country for ten of the last fifteen years.
Campaigning began on 4 April 2024.
Campaign
Stevo Pendarovski 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. Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova called for negotiations with the EU under a new framework and for such amendments to be made after North Macedonia attains EU membership. Pendarovski called on fighting corruption through taking on organized criminal groups, while Siljanovska-Davkova focused on the judiciary in her anti-corruption stance.
Following the first round, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova said "the hour has come for this government to go" and described the results as a "new course". She also called on voters to prove "that we have always (belonged to) Europe". Stevo Pendarovski expressed surprise and disappointment with the result, but expressed hope for improvement in the second round, including with the support of the Albanian community.
The Democratic Union for Integration, which represents ethnic Albanians and supported former Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani as a presidential candidate, offered its support in the second round to any candidate who supports having the President selected by the Assembly of North Macedonia in future elections, in the hopes of having an ethnic Albanian attaining the office. However, both Pendarovski and Siljanovska-Davkova dismissed the proposal, saying it is democratic for the Presidency to be selected through direct voting.
Conduct
Polling in the first round opened at 07:00 on 24 April and lasted until 19:00 at 3,480 polling stations nationwide. About 1.8 million people were eligible to vote, while around 2,300 domestic and international observers monitored the proceedings.
Aftermath
Following the release of the results, Stevo Pendarovski conceded defeat, while Siljanovska-Davkova acknowledged her being the first woman to be elected as president of North Macedonia and pledged to "stand with women in taking this great step forward, a step towards reform."
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".
Reactions
- Croatia — Prime Minister Andrej Plenković congratulated Siljanovska-Davkova on her victory.
- European Union — Ambassador David Geer congratulated Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova for her election, noting that he is "looking forward to working closely with her for the European future of the country." In addition, Oliver Varhelyi, the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, congratulated Siljanovska-Davkova and highlighted the need "to speed up the necessary reforms to move forward in the EU accession negotiation process."
- Hungary — Prime Minister Viktor Orbán congratulated Siljanovska-Davkova and her VMRO-DPMNE on their "well-deserved and historic victory" in the presidential and parliamentary elections. Orban added that he looked forward to working together on giving North Macedonia a "new momentum to the EU accession process".
- Serbia — President Aleksandar Vučić congratulated Siljanovska-Davkova, saying that he was "confident that we will together continue to work on strengthening Serbia-Macedonia ties".
- Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated Siljanovska-Davkova and expressed optimism in cooperating with North Macedonia to ensure peace and stability in Europe.
- United States — Ambassador Angela Aggeler expressed her "heartfelt congratulations" to Siljanovska-Davkova on her "historic election as the first female President." She also extended her congratulations "to all those citizens who exercised their right to vote in the presidential and parliamentary elections."