Voter Apathy Plagues Presidential Elections in Republic of North Macedonia

Conrad Omodiagbe, April 23, 2019

On Sunday, citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia went to their respective polling booths in a bid to elect a new president who would replace the outgoing nationalist leader, President Gjorge Ivanov. The election was similar to the Nigerian one held in February 2019, as it was a two-horse race between the pro-EU candidate, Stevo Pendarovski, and his nationalist opponent, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova.

In a surprising twist after months of campaigning, results released by the country’s official election umpire, the State Election Commission, show that both Pendarovski and Siljanovska-Davkova tied in the first round of elections.

Results of Sunday’s Election: According to the result presented to the public on the State Election Commission’s website (based on 98 percent of the votes which were counted from Sunday through Monday) Pendarovski, who is backed by the ruling centrist coalition of the Social Democrats and the minority Albanian DUI party, recorded 42.7 percent of the votes. Similarly, Siljanovska-Davkova, a professor and candidate for the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party, received 42.5 percent, resulting in a tie.

Blerim Reka, who ran under one of the largest Albanian parties, Besa, came in third place with just 10.4 percent of the votes. The main two candidates are set to have a final face off on May 5, to determine the next president of the country.

Poor Voter Turnout: Over 1.8 million Macedonians registered to vote in the presidential elections. However, data presented by the Electoral Commission showed that only 41.9 percent of those who registered showed up at the polls to exercise their civic duty.

This is a poor reflection of the electorate’s willingness to participate in the country’ decision-making process, as less than 50 percent of them showed up.

First Poll Since Name Change: Sunday’s election was monumental to the people of North Macedonia, especially since it was the first presidential poll held since the country adopted a new name, following years of back and forth with Greece.

The country officially changed its name to the Republic of North Macedonia in February this year.

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