2 hours agoLocal Elections in Northern Macedonia: 31 percent of citizens voted by 1500
Periskopi(8 months ago)
(8 months ago)Citizens of Northern Macedonia are voting today in the first round of local elections for mayors and municipal advisers in all 80 municipalities, plus in the City of Skopje. According to the State Election Commission, 31 percent of citizens rightly voted until 1500. The vote began at hour [...]
According to the State Election Commission, 31 percent of citizens rightly voted until 1500.
The vote began at 7: 00 a.m. and citizens will be able to vote by 7:00. Next will begin counting votes and announcing the first results.
At a media conference Macedonian Interior Minister Goce Andreevski indicated that two people were arrested in Prilep because of the <x0->the tip-only” during the election process. However, the minister praised that the process is under way in a calm and democratic manner, Periscopi conveys.
Meanwhile, the Ombudsman in Northern Macedonia has called on citizens to report election violations, offering numbers where they can do so during the election process.
These are the eighth local elections since state independence declared in 1991. Citizens in Northern Macedonia are voting for the second time in less than two years, after last year in April and May the presidential and parliamentary elections were held.
Election rights in local elections have 1,832,415 citizens, according to State Election Commission electoral list (KSHZ).
On Saturday, the sick and people who were unable to make elections voted, those in the homes of the elderly as well as those in custody or are serving prison sentences.
Among the general number of citizens with the right to vote are 112,000 persons who are of temporary work or stay abroad, as well as 2,162 persons in jail or detention, and 450 voters from homes of the elderly.
A total of 3,480 seats are in the country.
For 81 seats of mayors, there are 309 candidates, while for council countries compete over 10,490 candidates from the total 576 lists.
These election participants have been nominated by a total of 22 political parties, 19 coalitions and 119 voter groups, independent candidacys respectively.
Characteristics for mayoral candidates are the domination of men, who are 277 or 89.64%, while women are only 32, 10.36% respectively.
The largest number of candidates is Skopje City 16 for mayor and 19 lists for advisers.
The campaign for these local elections lasted 20 days on September 29th and ended at midnight on October 17, when the electoral silence began.
The silence will last until the deployment night of October 19th.
1,462 observers, of them 808 locals and 664 foreigners, have been accredited for local elections.
In this first round of elections, new compositions of municipal councils must be resolved, while for mayor, one who has won 50 per cent plus one vote should be considered elected, provided at least one-third of voters registered on the electoral list of the respective municipality have emerged.
Under the rules, if none of the candidates meet this condition, the second round is held, where citizens choose between the two candidates who have won the most votes.
The second round is scheduled for November 2nd.
The overall budget the state has earmarked for holding these local elections amounts to 9m and 760m euros, of which two-thirds are money destined for the media and paid political advertising.
In addition, compensation is added for the members of election councils (KZ), as well as expenses for the transport and distribution of KZ members and election material from municipal election commissions to locations, as these cover local powers themselves.
The previous seven local elections in northern Macedonia have been held in the years -- 1996, 2000, 2005, 2009 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2021./ REL
