The ruling coalition's candidate in the presidential election, Stevo Pentarovski, is slightly ahead of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE candidate Gordana Siljanovska, according to the first results announced by the country's National Electoral Commission.
With 70% of the votes counted, Stevo Pendarovski has 42,6%, while Gordana Siljanovska has 41,4%.
The third candidate, Blerim Reka, who is supported by two Albanian opposition parties ("Alliance for Albanians" and "BESA"), has 11,8%. In the first round the turnout was around 42%.
For the presidential election to be considered valid, the turnout in the second round must exceed 40%, which is not entirely certain, due to the relative indifference of the electorate to them, but also because about 25% of the country's voters live and works permanently or temporarily abroad and few of them vote in elections, in general.
- Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ.