North Macedonia is holding elections today to elect mayors and councilors in 80 municipalities and the City of Skopje.
The Voters' List includes 1,832,415 voters who are expected to vote in 3,474 polling centers across the country for 309 candidates for mayor and 576 lists of candidates for municipal council members, or a total of 10,490 candidates.
22 parties, 19 coalitions and 119 voter groups, i.e. independent candidates, are participating in the elections.
The city of Skopje has the largest number of candidates for mayor, 16.
The elections will be monitored by 1,451 observers – 807 domestic and 644 international observers.
Voting began at 7 a.m. and ends at 7 p.m. It may be extended if there are voters remaining at the polling station at 7 p.m., or if voting is interrupted during the voting period by a decision of the MEC or the SEC. If voting is interrupted for more than one hour, it will continue for the same period as the interruption, but not more than three hours.
At 19:00, the polling stations close. Voters present at the polling station are allowed to vote. The polling station in which all citizens registered in the Voters' List have voted may close before 19:00, with the prior consent of the competent MEC, but the counting of votes must not begin before 19:00, Alsat media reports.
Citizens will be able to vote only once and vote for mayor and council in municipalities, and in the capital for mayor of the municipality where the citizens live and for the City of Skopje, as well as for councils. So, in Skopje, voters will receive four ballots.
Voters identify themselves with a valid identity card or passport and biometric identification device.
Voting is secret, done behind screens with blue pen, and group or family voting, as well as carrying weapons in a polling station, is prohibited.
