Presidential elections were held in North Macedonia on 24 April 2024. No candidate received a majority of votes in the first round, so a second round will be held on 8 May 2024, alongside parliamentary elections.^[1][2] Incumbent Stevo Pendarovski is eligible for re-election.

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

2024 North Macedonian presidential election

← 2019 24 April 2024 (first round) 8 May 2024 (second round) 2029 →

Nominee Gordana Siljanovska Stevo Pendarovski Party VMRO-DPMNE SDSM Alliance Your Macedonia For a European Future

President before election Stevo Pendarovski SDSM Elected President TBD

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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.^[3] In the second round, voter turnout must be at least 40% for the result to be deemed valid.^[4] 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%,^[4] 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%.^[5]

In order to contest the election, potential candidates are required to collect signatures from at least 10,000 registered voters or 30 MPs.^[6]

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.^[7]

Stevo Pendarovski supports 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 calls for negotiations with the EU under a new framework and for such amendments to be made after North Macedonia attains EU membership. Pendarovski calls on fighting corruption through taking on organized criminal groups, while Siljanovska-Davkova focused on the judiciary in her anti-corruption stance.^[34][35]

Following the first round, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova said "the hour has come for this government to go"^[36] 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.^[37][38]

The Democratic Union for Integration, which represents ethnic Albanians and is led by former Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, 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 have dismissed the proposal, saying it is democratic for the Presidency to be selected through direct voting.^[38]

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 320 international observers monitored the proceedings.^[39][38]

First round

More information Polling firm, Date ...

Polling firm	Date	Sample size
			Pendarovski	Siljanovska	Taravari	Osmani	Dimitrievski	Vankovska	Jakimovski
			SDSM	VMRO-DPMNE	ASh	BDI	ZNAM	Levica	GROM
Election Results	24 Apr 2024	905,937	20.5	41.2	9.5	13.7	9.5	4.7	0.9
IPIS	Apr 2024	1,200	23.8	39.0	10.7	11.5	7.7	5.5	1.6
CRPC	8–13 Apr 2024	1,210	28.8	35.0	13.6	11.5	4.6	4.5	2.1
МКД.мк	15–24 Mar 2024	1,200	19.8	36.5	10.5	14.3	12.1	4.9	1.5
CRPC	4–7 Mar 2024	1,085	29.3	35.5	14.3	9.6	5.1	4.3	2.0
IPIS[lower-alpha 1]	20 Feb 2024	1,212	22.3	39.2	13.4[lower-alpha 2]	12.2	5.8	6.4	–
2019 election		–	44.8	44.2	11.1[lower-alpha 3]	–	–	–	–

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Second round

More information Polling firm, Date ...

Polling firm	Date	Sample size
			Pendarovski	Siljanovska
			SDSM	VMRO-DPMNE
МКД.мк	15–24 Mar 2024	1,200	44.2	55.8
2019 election		–	53.6	46.4

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