(8 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Skopje, North Macedonia – 08 May 2024
1. Various of last voters inside polling station
2. Poster with names of presidential candidates
3. Last voters voting
4. Close of ballot box
5. Various of voters casting their ballots
STORYLINE:
Polling stations closed in North Macedonia’s parliamentary election and a presidential runoff on Wednesday.
Preliminary results are expected early Thursday.
The month-long campaign focused on North Macedonia’s progress toward joining the 27-nation EU, the rule of law, corruption, fighting poverty and tackling the country’s flat economic growth.
The office of prime minister wields the real power, and the president is largely ceremonial, so the parliamentary election is the more important of the two contests.
The opposition center-right coalition, which is pushing back against neighboring Bulgaria’s conditions for the country’s EU candidacy, is favored to win both elections.
The election for the unicameral parliament takes place in a single round, while the presidential election is the runoff of a two-round contest that began in April with the center-right candidate scoring a large lead over the center-left incumbent.
More than 1,700 candidates are competing for the unicameral parliament’s 120 seats.
There are also three seats reserved for expatriates, but in the last election, in 2020, turnout was too low to fill those seats.
AP video shot by Florent Bajrami
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