2017 Macedonian local elections

The 2017 Macedonian local elections were held on October 14-15 and 28-29, 2017 in the Republic of Macedonia to elect mayors and members of municipality councils of the 80 municipalities in Macedonia. These were the sixth local elections since the independence of Macedonia.

2017 Macedonian local elections

14-15 October 2017 (first round) 28-29 October 2017 (second round)
80 municipalities and Skopje
Leader Zoran Zaev Ali Ahmeti Nikola Gruevski Party SDSM BDI VMRO-DPMNE Mayoralities won 57 10 5 Change 53 4 51   Leader Ziadin Sela Bilal Kasami Menduh Thaçi Party AS LB PDSh Mayoralities won 3 1 1 Change 3 1 1   Leader Beycan Ilyas Party DPTM Independent Mayoralities won 1 3 Change 1

The mandates of the current mayors and municipality councils ran out on May 22, and unlike those of government ministers, they are not automatically prolonged until new ones are elected. The delay in this respect prevented institutions under municipal authority, such as schools, kindergartens, public enterprises, fire-fighting units, to execute their duties. The new parliamentary majority extended the mandate of the local councils and mayors until new election are held.

On June 3 the newly established government set October 15, 2017 as the date of the upcoming local elections. On August 6, Macedonian parliament speaker Talat Xhaferi announced that local elections would be held October 15, 2017.

The local elections were held as scheduled, on October 15, 2017. The election started in 7AM (local time) and the process was held in relatively peaceful mood, with several minor incidents throughout the country. The polling stations were closed 12 hours later. However, only 45 municipalities elected a mayor in the first round, and 35 had to vote again on October 29.

The second round of the local elections was held as scheduled, October 29, 2017. The election started in 7AM (local time) and the process was held in relatively peaceful mood, with several minor incidents throughout the country. The polling stations were closed 12 hours later.

In both of the first two rounds, voting was held a day early (October 14 and 28) for hospitalized and disadvantaged persons, and those in home detention or prison. A third round re-vote was held on November 12 in the municipality of Čair only.[1]

Results

Municipality	Candidate	Party	%	Round won in
Aerodrom	Zlatko Marin	Social Democratic Union	52.03%	First round
Aračinovo	Milikije Halimi	Social Democratic Union	57.81%	First round
Berovo	Zvonko Pekevski	Social Democratic Union	60.96%	First round
Bitola	Nataša Petrovska	Social Democratic Union	59.77%	First round
Bogdanci	Blaže Šapov	Social Democratic Union	55.37%	First round
Bogovinje	Aljbon Džemaili	Alliance for Albanians	53.70%	Second round
Bosilovo	Zoran Zimbakov	Social Democratic Union	53.80%	First round
Brvenica	Enver Pajaziti	Independent	55.38%	Second round
Butel	Velimir Smilevski	Social Democratic Union	57.02%	Second round
Valandovo	Pero Kostadinov	Social Democratic Union	55.31%	First round
Vasilevo	Marjan Janev	Social Democratic Union	52.52%	First round
Vevčani	Sašo Jankoski	Social Democratic Union	53.15%	First round
Veles	Ace Kocevski	Social Democratic Union	53.51%	First round
Vinica	Ivica Dimitrov	Social Democratic Union	52.23%	Second round
Vrapčište	Isen Shabani	Alliance for Albanians	51.25%	Second round
Gazi Baba	Boris Georgievski	Social Democratic Union	53.57%	Second round
Gevgelija	Sašo Pockov	Social Democratic Union	54.55%	First round
Gjorče Petrov	Aleksandar Naumoski	Social Democratic Union	53.75%	First round
Gostivar	Arben Taravari	Alliance for Albanians	50.12%	Second round
Gradsko	Robert Bešovski	Social Democratic Union	53.51%	Second round
Debar	Ruždi Ljata	Democratic Union for Integration	52.04%	Second round
Debarca	Zoran Nogačeski	Social Democratic Union	56.70%	First round
Delčevo	Goran Trajkovski	Social Democratic Union	51.83%	First round
Demir Kapija	Lazar Petrov	Social Democratic Union	56.12%	Second round
Demir Hisar	Marjanče Stojanovski	Social Democratic Union	55.43%	First round
Dojran	Ango Angov	Social Democratic Union	58.19%	First round
Dolneni	Džemil Kjamili	Democratic Union for Integration	53.90%	Second round
Želino	Bljerim Sejdi	Besa Movement	51.27%	Second round
Zelenikovo	Borče Gievski	Social Democratic Union	59.22%	First round
Zrnovci	Blaže Stankov	VMRO-DPMNE	57.11%	Second round
Ilinden	Žika Stojanovski	VMRO-DPMNE	57.34%	First round
Jegunovce	Darko Blažeski	Social Democratic Union	61.79%	Second round
Kavadarci	Mitko Jančev	VMRO-DPMNE	52.65%	Second round
Karbinci	Jordan Nasev	Social Democratic Union	56.94%	Second round
Karpoš	Stefan Bogoev	Social Democratic Union	57.70%	First round
Kisela Voda	Filip Temelkovski	Social Democratic Union	54.89%	Second round
Kičevo	Fatmir Dehari	Democratic Union for Integration	60.36%	First round
Konče	Blagoj Iliev	Social Democratic Union	55.23%	First round
Kočani	Nikolčo Ilijev	Social Democratic Union	55.80%	First round
Kratovo	Ljupčo Bojadžiev	Social Democratic Union	57.11%	First round
Kriva Palanka	Borjančo Micevski	Social Democratic Union	57.97%	First round
Krivogaštani	Rubinčo Šefteroski	Social Democratic Union	53.90%	First round
Kruševo	Tome Hristoski	Social Democratic Union	60.63%	First round
Kumanovo	Maksim Dimitrievski	Social Democratic Union	52.53%	First round
Lipkovo	Erkan Arifi	Democratic Union for Integration	58.55%	Second round
Lozovo	Aco Velkovski	Social Democratic Union	55.18%	First round
Mavrovo and Rostuša	Medat Kurtovski	Social Democratic Union	55.85%	First round
Makedonska Kamenica	Sonja Stamenkova	Social Democratic Union	54.24%	Second round
Makedonski Brod	Živko Siljanoski	Social Democratic Union	66.46%	Second round
Mogila	Jasmina Gulevska	Social Democratic Union	51.22%	Second round
Negotino	Toni Delkov	Social Democratic Union	51.44%	First round
Novaci	Ljube Kuzmanoski	Social Democratic Union	53.00%	Second round
Novo Selo	Boro Stojčev	Social Democratic Union	52.13%	First round
Ohrid	Jovan Stojanoski	Social Democratic Union	54.07%	First round
Petrovec	Borče Mitevski	VMRO-DPMNE	62.05%	First round
Pehčevo	Dragan Trenčovski	Social Democratic Union	52.65%	First round
Plasnica	Ismail Jahoski	Democratic Union for Integration	59.12%	First round
Prilep	Ilija Jovanoski	Social Democratic Union	51.07%	First round
Probištip	Dragan Anastasov	Social Democratic Union	52.27%	Second round
Radoviš	Gerasim Konzulov	Social Democratic Union	50.13%	First round
Rankovce	Ivica Toševski	Independent	58.27%	First round
Resen	Živko Gošarevski	Social Democratic Union	55.03%	First round
Rosoman	Branko Janev	Social Democratic Union	54.23%	Second round
Saraj	Blerim Bedžeti	Democratic Union for Integration	52.26%	Second round
Sveti Nikole	Sašo Velkovski	Social Democratic Union	50.17%	First round
Skopje	Petre Šilegov	Social Democratic Union	50.33%	First round
Sopište	Stefče Trpkovski	VMRO-DPMNE	50.78%	First round
Staro Nagoričane	Žaklina Jovanovska	Social Democratic Union	65.36%	Second round
Struga	Ramis Merko	Democratic Union for Integration	49.53%	Second round
Strumica	Kosta Janevski	Social Democratic Union	59.45%	First round
Studeničani	Azem Sadiki	Democratic Party of Albanians	52.17%	Second round
Tearce	Isen Asani	Democratic Union for Integration	51.64%	Second round
Tetovo	Teuta Arifi	Democratic Union for Integration	49.09%	Second round
Centar	Saša Bogdanovikj	Social Democratic Union	63.47%	First round
Centar Župa	Arijan Ibraim	Democratic Party of Turks	70.48%	First round
Čair	Visar Ganiu	Democratic Union for Integration	48.66%	Second round
Čaška	Goran Stojanovski	Social Democratic Union	69.58%	Second round
Češinovo-Obleševo	Gorančo Krstev	Social Democratic Union	49.91%	Second round
Čučer-Sandevo	Jovan Pejkovski	Independent	51.40%	First round
Štip	Blagoj Bočvarski	Social Democratic Union	51.54%	Second round
Šuto Orizari	Kurto Duduš	Social Democratic Union	57.61%	Second round

Incidents and reactions

Alit Abazi, an independent candidate for the council of Kičevo Municipality, was killed in public with a hand gun, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a statement that the murder was not politically motivated.[2] The house of Vlado Misajlovski, a candidate for mayor in Gjorche Petrov, and the bakery of his father caught fire. Police statement said the bakery caught fire because of defective installation and the fire spread to the house.[3] Elvis Bajram, a candidate for mayor in Shuto Orizari, was attacked with a metal pipe after arguing with activists of the opposing candidate.[4] An NGO activist from Struga was beaten after speaking against Ziadin Sela, leader of the Alliance for the Albanians.[5] Voters were caught trying to photograph the ballot and were immediately arrested.[6][7] People were also arrested for inciting and participating in physical showdowns. Polling stations were briefly closed until the situations were sorted out.[8][9]

The leading opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE filed dozens of complaints all of which were rejected by the State Election Commission. The leader of the party, former prime-minister Nikola Gruevski, said that he does not recognize the election as free and democratic and asked for an early parliamentary election.[10] After losing in Struga, the city's former mayor Sela said that he does not recognize the result and called DUI to a showdown at an early parliamentary election.[11] The Besa Movement reported that irregularities were noted and complaints were filed.[12]

References

1. "The Republic of Macedonia's 2017 Local Elections Handbook, Second Updated Edition, pp. 135-6". IDSCS.
2. Трагедија: Кандидатот од Кичево им подлегна на повредите
3. Пожар во фурната и семејната куќа на поранешниот министер Владо Мисајловски
4. Нападнат и повреден градоначалникот на Шуто Оризари, Елвис Бајрам
5. Активист од невладина организација претепан во Струга поради статуси на социјалните мрежи
6. Приведен гласач кој направил фотографија со гласачкото ливче
7. МВР: Тепачка во Шутка и три фотографирања на гласачко ливче
8. МВР: Тепачка во Шутка и три фотографирања на гласачко ливче
9. Тепачка на гласачко место во скопски Бутел
10. Груевски не ги признава изборните резултати, бара предвремени избори
11. Зијадин Села не ги признава изборните резултати
12. БЕСА: Регистрирани се низа неправилности, се подготвуваат соодветни жалби