Low turnout dogs tight North Macedonia presidential vote as rival candidates neck and neck in polls
- Run-off vote likely in next two weeks in polls that have seen a turnout of just 41 per cent
Less than half the electorate of North Macedonia participated Sunday in the first round of the first presidential election since the European country changed its name.
The turnout of 41 per cent of the 1.8 million voters, given by the electoral commission, was the lowest recorded in the six presidential elections the former Yugoslav republic has experienced since independence in 1991.
That figure appeared to have barely passed the 40 per cent threshold of voters needed for the second round of the election to be held on May 5 to be considered valid.
With nearly all ballots counted, the candidates of the left and right were neck-in-neck and likely headed for a run-off vote in two weeks.
Stevo Pendarovski, 56, backed by the ruling left-wing government, was on 42.63 per cent of the vote with rival Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, 62, of the right-wing opposition on 42.39 per cent. Belrim Reka, 59, from the country’s ethnic Albanian minority garnered around 11 per cent, according to the preliminary results.