The first round of the presidential elections in North Macedonia took place on April 24, 2024. The current president Stevo Pendarovski from the ruling social democrats from the center left ran for re-election for a second term. Apart from the candidacy of the current president, 6 other candidates from different political parties entered the race for the presidential function.
Although the right-wing opponent Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova won 41.2%, she still did not have the necessary majority to win in the first round. The current president Stevo Pendarovski had 20% of the total number of votes. The remaining number of votes was divided between the other candidates. Since the majority was not achieved in the first round. Since the majority was not achieved in the first round, it was necessary to hold a second round. The two candidates with the highest number of votes entered the second round, and that was the current President Stevo Pendarovski and his opponent Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova. The second round was held on May 8 together with the parliamentary elections. In the second round, Gordana with a large margin of almost 70% (561 thousand votes) defeated the current president Pendarovski who received 30% of the votes. Siljanovska became the first woman elected president of North Macedonia.
The electoral system of the Republic of North Macedonia is organized in such a way that the president is elected in the first round if he receives more than 50% +1 of the votes from all registered voters. In the second round, voter turnout must be at least 40% for the result to be considered valid.
The candidates’ campaign was following:
Stevo Pendarovski supported the revision of the constitution to include recognition of the Bulgarian minority in North Macedonia, a condition set by Bulgaria to allow the country to join the European Union. Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova called for negotiations with the EU in a new framework and such changes to be made after the membership of North Macedonia in the EU. Pendarovski called for a fight against corruption by taking on organized criminal groups, while Siljanovska-Davkova focused on the judiciary in her anti-corruption stance. The Democratic Union for Integration, which represents ethnic Albanians and supported former Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani as a presidential candidate, offered its support in the second round to any candidate who supports the election of the President by the Assembly of North Macedonia in future elections, in all hopes that an ethnic Albanian will get the post. However, both Pendarovski and Siljanovska-Davkova rejected the proposal, saying that it is democratic to elect the Presidency by direct voting.