Politics in North Macedonia occur within the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated North Macedonia a "flawed democracy" in 2022.
Ali Ahmeti, also known by the nom de guerre as Abaz Gjuka is a Macedonian politician of Albanian descent, leader of the Democratic Union for Integration, and a junior coalition partner in the Macedonian government since 2008. Ahmeti is also known as the political leader of the former Albanian National Liberation Army in the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia.
"Denes nad Makedonija" is the national anthem of North Macedonia. Todor Skalovski composed the music and Vlado Maleski wrote the lyrics of the song in the early 1940s. It was adopted as the national anthem in 1992, almost a year after the state's independence from Yugoslavia. Before its adoption as a national anthem, it was used as the regional anthem of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, a constituent state of Yugoslavia, before it became the national anthem of the Republic of North Macedonia.
Kiro Gligorov was a Macedonian politician who served as the first president of the Republic of Macedonia from 1991 to 1999. He was born and raised in Štip, where he was also educated. He continued his education in Skopje and graduated in law in Belgrade. During World War II in Yugoslav Macedonia, he worked as a lawyer and participated in the partisan resistance. By the end of the war, he was an organiser of the Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia, the predecessor of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia as a federal Yugoslav state.
The Democratic Union for Integration is the largest ethnic Albanian political party in North Macedonia and the third largest political party in the country. It was formed immediately after the country's 2001 armed conflict between the National Liberation Army and Macedonian security forces. NLA founder Ali Ahmeti has been the party's president ever since.
The Rainbow is a political party in Greece, and a member of the European Free Alliance. It is known for its activism amongst what it regards as the ethnic Macedonian minority in Greece and their descendants abroad. The Rainbow states that it sees the acceptance of the Republic of North Macedonia in the European Union with a positive regard.
The president of the Republic of North Macedonia is the head of state of North Macedonia.
The Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, or the Sobranie, is the unicameral legislature of North Macedonia. According to the Constitution, the Sobranie represents the people and is vested with legislative power. It can have between 120 and 140 MPs, elected by proportional representation from 6 electoral districts, each contributing 20 MPs, and there are also 3 reserved seats elected from the Macedonian diaspora which are awarded only if the voter turnout was sufficient. MPs are elected for a term of four years and cannot be recalled during their term. The Sobranie is presided over by a President. Its organization and functioning are regulated by the Constitution and Rules of Procedure. The Assembly's seat is in the Sobranie Palace in country's capital Skopje.
Kosovo unilaterally self proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008, a move which Serbia strongly rejects. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state and continues to claim it as the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. However, differences and disputes remain, while North Kosovo is partially under Serbian rule. Initially there were no relations between the two; but in the following years there has been increased dialogue and cooperation between the two sides.
North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the north. It constitutes approximately the northern third of the larger geographical region of Macedonia. Skopje, the capital and largest city, is home to a quarter of the country's 1.83 million people population. The majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25%, followed by Turks, Roma, Serbs, Bosniaks, Aromanians and a few other minorities.
Zoran Zaev is a Macedonian economist and politician who served as prime minister of North Macedonia from May 2017 to January 2020, and again from August 2020 to January 2022.
The Besa Movement is a centre-right ethnic Albanian political party in North Macedonia. It was formed in November 2014 by Bilal Kasami, Afrim Gashi and Adnan Azizi.
Early parliamentary elections were held in Macedonia on 11 December 2016, having originally been planned for 24 April and later 5 June.
Talat Xhaferi is a Macedonian politician and the Prime Minister of North Macedonia. He has previously served as the President of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia from 2017 to 2024 and as Minister of Defense from 2013 to 2014. He is the first ethnic Albanian prime minister since independence and statehood of North Macedonia.
The Alliance for the Albanians is a centre-right political party founded in 2015 in North Macedonia by Ziadin Sela.
A referendum was held in the Republic of Macedonia on 30 September 2018, with voters asked whether they supported EU and NATO membership by accepting the Prespa Agreement between Macedonia and Greece, signed in June 2018, which aimed to settle the 27-year naming dispute, which had prevented Macedonia from joining both the European Union and NATO. Despite 94% of voters voting in favour, voter turnout was around 37%, less than the 50% threshold required to validate the results.
Presidential elections were held in North Macedonia in 2019. Three candidates were on the ballot in the first round, held on 21 April: Stevo Pendarovski, supported by the ruling coalition led by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, including the Democratic Union for Integration; Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova of the leading opposition party VMRO-DPMNE, and Blerim Reka, an independent supported by Albanian opposition parties Alliance for Albanians and Besa Movement. The first round did not result in an absolute majority for any candidate, with Pendarovski receiving the most votes. In the second round held on 5 May, Pendarovski defeated Siljanovska-Davkova with 54% of the vote.
Early parliamentary elections were held in North Macedonia on 15 July 2020. It was originally scheduled for November 2020, but Prime Minister Zoran Zaev called early elections after the European Council failed to come to an agreement on starting talks with North Macedonia on joining the European Union in October 2019. The election date was set for 12 April, but was postponed until July due to the COVID-19 pandemic in North Macedonia.
Gëzim Ostreni is a former KLA and NLA general. Ostreni is known for participating in the Kosovo War and the 2001 insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia.
Afrim Gashi is an Macedonian politician and the Speaker of the Assembly of North Macedonia.
