Candidates

The incumbent president Gjorge Ivanov, supported by the governing party, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), successfully nominated himself for reelection after collecting 63,253 signatures from citizens.^[4] The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) candidate Stevo Pendarovski was nominated by the signatures of the opposition parties' members of parliament.^[5] Other candidates nominated by over 10,000 signatures included Zoran T. Popovski from the Citizen Option for Macedonia (GROM), and Ilijaz Halimi [bg] from the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA).^[6][7]

Campaign

The first round of the presidential election was held on 13 April. The candidates were Gjorge Ivanov (VMRO-DPMNE), Stevo Pendarovski (SDSM), Ilijaz Halimi (DPA), and Zoran Popovski (GROM). The ethnic Albanian party Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), a junior coalition member, campaigned for boycott of the presidential election, opposing VMRO-DPMNE's decision to run Ivanov for reelection.^[8]

SDSM's Pendarovski controversially visited Pristina where he criticised the government policies in terms of foreign policy and that Albania has the highest GDP in the region despite reports by institutions and other politicians saying it was Macedonia.^[9]

Parties and coalitions

Fourteen political parties and coalitions contested the election, having submitted candidate lists for MPs in at least one of the six constituencies within the country and the three in the diaspora. Three among them, namely, VMRO-DPMNE, SDSM and DUI, submitted their candidate lists in all nine constituencies.^[10]

Campaign

SDSM's Zoran Zaev said that the election was about "choosing whether [the country] will support the fight for freedom and the right to a better life, or continue with state robbery."^[12] Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said: "We need a majority so nobody can blackmail us and we can keep up with the programme...that would lead Macedonia into the EU and NATO."^[3]

President

Parliament

President

In second round voting, centres were open from 5:00 GMT to 17:00 GMT. Turnout was reported as 9.58% in the first three hours.^[12] Gjorge Ivanov was re-elected with 57% of the valid vote.^[18] Following the election, Stevo Pendarovski called for an investigation of the election by external observers.^[19]

Parliament

The incumbent government, led by VMRO-DPMNE, received 44% of the vote to claim victory ahead of SDSM with 26% and DUI with 14%. The 123 seats in the Assembly were won by six political parties and coalitions with the VMRO-DPMNE coalition winning 61 seats, the SDSM coalition winning 34 seats, DUI winning 19 seats, DPA winning 7 seats and GROM and NDP winning 1 seat each.^[20]