Macedonian general election, 2014

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Macedonian presidential election, 2014

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←  2009 13 and 27 April 20142019 →

  Gorge Ivanov 2012-04-27.jpg Stevo Pendarovski.jpg
Nominee Gjorge Ivanov Stevo Pendarovski
Party VMRO-DPMNE SDSM
Popular vote 534,910 398,077
Percentage 55.28% 41.14%
President before election

Gjorge Ivanov
VMRO-DPMNE

Elected President

Gjorge Ivanov
VMRO-DPMNE

Macedonian parliamentary election, 2014

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←  2011 27 April 2014 2016  →
All 123 seats to the Sobranie

  First party Second party
  Gruevski.jpg Zaev.jpg
Leader Nikola Gruevski Zoran Zaev
Party VMRO-DPMNE SDSM
Leader since 2002 2013
Last election 56 seats 42 seats
Seats won 61 34
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 5Decrease2.svg 8
Popular vote 481,615 283,955
Percentage 44.47% 26.22%
Prime Minister before election

Nikola Gruevski
VMRO-DPMNE

Prime Minister

Nikola Gruevski
VMRO-DPMNE

Republic of Macedonia
Coat of arms of the Republic of Macedonia.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
the Republic of Macedonia

General elections [a] were held in the Republic of Macedonia in April 2014 to elect the President and members of parliament. The first round of the presidential elections were held on 13 April, with incumbent president Gjorge Ivanov getting the lead with 52% of the vote. However, as he did not receive the support of 50% of all registered voters, a second round was held on 27 April, alongside parliamentary elections, with Ivanov and the ruling coalition led by VMRO-DPMNE claiming victory. [1] [2]

Gjorge Ivanov Macedonian politician

Gjorge Ivanov is a Macedonian politician, currently serving as President of North Macedonia, in office since 2009.

Contents

Background

The parliamentary election was brought forward to coincide with that of the president following VMRO-DPMNE and DUI's failure to agree on a combined presidential candidate. [3]

President

Candidates

The incumbent president Gjorge Ivanov, supported by the governing party, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), successfully nominated himself for reelection after collecting 63,253 signatures from Macedonian citizens. [4] The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia candidate Stevo Pendarovski was nominated by the signatures of the opposition parties' members of parliament. [5] Other candidates nominated by over 10,000 signatures included Zoran T. Popovski from the Citizen Option for Macedonia, and Ilijaz Halimi from the Democratic Party of Albanians. [6] [7]

Social Democratic Union of Macedonia political party in North Macedonia

The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia is a social-democratic political party, the main centre-left political party in North Macedonia. The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia was founded on 20 April 1991 at the 11th Congress of SKM-PDP. Branko Crvenkovski was elected as the party's first president. Its current leader is Zoran Zaev. The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia is a member of the Progressive Alliance and an associate affiliate of the Party of European Socialists (PES). SDSM is a centre-left positioned political party with social-democratic ideology. The party supported a practical solution to the Macedonian naming dispute with Greece, which succeeded under the Prespa agreement.

Stevo Pendarovski Macedonian politician

Stevo Pendarovski is a politician and academic from North Macedonia.

Dr. Zoran T. Popovski is a Macedonian scientist and professor working at the Institute of Animal Biotechnology under the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food in the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. He is a specialist in molecular biology in animal science, genetic engineering and GMO. He has been working for the faculty since 1992.

Campaign

The first round of the presidential election was held on 13 April. The candidates were Gjorge Ivanov (VMRO-DPMNE), Stevo Pendarovski (SDSM), Ilijaz Halimi (DPA), and Zoran Popovski (GROM). The ethnic Albanian party Democratic Union for Integration, a junior coalition member, campaigned for boycott of the presidential election, opposing VMRO-DPMNE's decision to run Ivanov for reelection. [8]

Democratic Union for Integration political party

The Democratic Union for Integration is the largest Albanian political party in North Macedonia and the third largest political party in the country. It was formed immediately after the country's 2001 conflict between the National Liberation Army (NLA) and the Macedonian Security Forces. The NLA leader Ali Ahmeti became party president.

SDSM's Pendarovski controversially visited Pristina where he criticised the government policies in terms of foreign policy and that Albania has the highest GDP in the region despite reports by institutions and other politicians saying it was Macedonia. [9]

Pristina Capital of Kosovo

Pristina or Prishtina, is the capital of Kosovo. The city has a majority Albanian population, alongside other smaller communities. With a municipal population of 204,721 inhabitants (2016), Pristina is the second-largest city in the world with a predominantly Albanian-speaking population, after Albania's capital, Tirana. Within Serbia, it would be the 4th largest. Geographically, it is located in the north-eastern part of Kosovo close to the Goljak mountains.

Parliament

Parties and coalitions

Fourteen political parties and coalitions contested the election, having submitted candidate lists for MPs in at least one of the six constituencies within the country and the three in the diaspora. Three among them, namely, VMRO-DPMNE, SDSM and DUI, submitted their candidate lists in all nine constituencies. [10]

VMRO-DPMNE

The VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition consisted of 22 parties: VMRO-DPMNE, the Socialist Party of Macedonia, the Democratic Union, Democratic Renewal of Macedonia, the Democratic Party of Turks, the Democratic Party of Serbs in Macedonia, the Union of Roma in Macedonia, the United Party for Emancipation, the Party of Justice, the Party of the Democratic Action of Macedonia, the Party of the Vlachs from Macedonia, the Party for Integration of the Roma, the Bosniak Democratic Party, Democratic Forces of the Roma, Permanent Macedonian Radical Unification, the New Liberal Party, the People's Movement for Macedonia, VMRO–Democratic Party, VMRO-United, Fatherland's Macedonian Organisation for Radical Renewal–Vardar–Aegean–Pirin TMORO – VEP, Macedonian Alliance, and VMRO – Macedonian. [11]

SDSM

The SDSM-led coalition included nine parties; the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, the New Social Democratic Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, United for Macedonia, the Party for the Movement of Turks in Macedonia, the Party for the Full Emancipation of the Roma of Macedonia, the Serbian Party in Macedonia, the Democratic Alliance of Vlachs, and the Sandžak List. [11]

GROM

The Citizen Option for Macedonia (GROM)-led alliance consisted of the Citizen Option for Macedonia, the Liberal Party, the Serbian Progressive Party in Macedonia, the Union of Tito's Left Forces, and the Party of Free Democrats. [11]

Campaign

SDSM's Zoran Zaev said that the election was about "choosing whether [Macedonians] will support the fight for freedom and the right to a better life, or continue with state robbery." [12] Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said: "We need a majority so nobody can blackmail us and we can keep up with the programme...that would lead Macedonia into the EU and NATO." [3]

Opinion polls

President

Poll sourceDateSample size Ivanov
VMRO-DPMNE 		Pendarovski
SDSM 		Halimi
DPA 		Popovski
GROM		NoneUndecided
Center for Information and Research (CIG) [13] March 20142,40029.3%19.4%6.1%-8.7%35%
Center for Research and Analysis [14] March 20141,83942.2%19.7% 5.2%5.4%9.1%18.4%
Election Results13 April 2014869,13751.7%37.5%2.2%1.8%

Parliament

Poll sourceDateSample size VMRO-DPMNE SDSM DUI DPA NDR GROM
Dimitrija Čupovski [15] January 20141,530593615712
Dimitrija Čupovski [16] April 20141,5006331 15101–

Monitoring and external influence

The second round of the election had accreditations given to 9,952 domestic and 550 foreign observers, as well as 283 translators, according to the State Election Commission. [17]

The United States and European Union had publicly urged political leaders to ensure the election was "credible and transparent," amidst complains by the SDSM. [12]

Results

President

In second round voting, centres were open from 5:00 GMT to 17:00 GMT. Turnout was reported as 9.58% in the first three hours. [12]

Gjorge Ivanov was re-elected, having won 55.28% of the total votes. [18] Following the election, Stevo Pendarovski called for an investigation of the election by external observers. [19]

CandidatePartyFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Gjorge Ivanov VMRO-DPMNE 449,44251.69534,91055.28
Stevo Pendarovski Social Democratic Union 326,16437.51398,07741.14
Ilijaz Halimi Democratic Party of Albanians 38,9664.48
Zoran T. Popovski Citizen Option for Macedonia 31,3683.61
Invalid/blank votes23,677–34,707–
Total869,547100967,676100
Registered voters/turnout1,779,57248.861,779,57254.36
Source: SEC

Parliament

The incumbent government, led by VMRO-DPMNE, won 42.98% of the votes to claim victory ahead of SDSM with 25.34% and DUI with 13.71%. The 123 seats in the Sobranie were won by six political parties and coalitions with VMRO-DPMNE winning 61 seats, SDSM winning 34 seats, DUI winning 19 seats, DPA winning 7 seats and GROM and NDP winning 1 seat each. [20]

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
VMRO-DPMNE coalition481,61544.4761+5
Social Democratic Union coalition283,95526.2234−8
Democratic Union for Integration 153,64614.1919+4
Democratic Party of Albanians 66,3936.137−1
Citizen Option for Macedonia coalition31,6102.921New
National Democratic Revival 17,7831.641−1
VMRO–People's Party 16,7721.5500
Coalition for a Positive Macedonia10,5660.980New
Dignity9,2650.860New
Social Democratic Party 4,7000.4300
Party for a European Future 3,1940.290New
Popular Movement for Macedonia1,9250.180New
Party for Economic Change 211,2810.120New
Party for Democratic Prosperity 3850.0400
Invalid/blank votes37,654–––
Total1,120,7441001230
Registered voters/turnout1,780,12862.96––
Source: SEC

Reactions

After voting ended the SDSM's Zoran Zaev said that "SDSM and our opposition coalition will not recognise the election process, neither the presidential nor the parliamentary." He accused the government of "abusing the entire state system." [21] It followed reports that Gruevski had warned that the SDSM was preparing, as an alibi, to react in such a manner to the election because they were due to lose the election. [22]

Notes

Related Research Articles

VMRO-DPMNE political party in North Macedonia

The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity, simplified as VMRO-DPMNE, is one of the two major parties in North Macedonia, the other being the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM).

Liberal Party of Macedonia political party

The Liberal Party of Macedonia is a liberal party in North Macedonia. The party is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, and is currently led by Ivon Velickovski.

Elections in North Macedonia

North Macedonia elects on national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia (Sobranie) has 120-123 members, elected for a four-year term, by proportional representation. North Macedonia has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments.

Socialist Party of Macedonia

The Socialist Party of Macedonia is a political party in North Macedonia founded on 22 September 1990 as a successor of the Socialist Alliance of the Working People of Macedonia. The SPM proclaims that it is a left-wing democratic socialist party. The SPM was part of the coalition governments from 1992 to 1998, led by the SDSM. The party's first leader was Kiro Popovski and its current leader is Ljubisav Ivanov - Dzingo.

Prime Minister of North Macedonia head of government of North Macedonia

The Prime Minister of North Macedonia, officially the President of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, is the head of government of North Macedonia. He or she is the leader of a political coalition in the North Macedonian parliament and the leader of the cabinet. The current Prime Minister is Zoran Zaev, who has served since 31 May 2017.

2006 Macedonian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were in Macedonia on 5 July 2006. The result was a victory for the VRMO-DPNME-led coalition, which won 45 of the 120 seats of the Macedonian Parliament.

2008 Macedonian parliamentary election election

Early parliamentary elections were held in Macedonia on 1 June 2008, after the Assembly voted to dissolve itself on 12 April 2008. The result was a victory for the VMRO-DPMNE-led alliance, which won 63 of the 120 seats in the Assembly.

2009 Macedonian presidential election election

Presidential elections were held in the Republic of Macedonia in 2009. The first round was held on 22 March, alongside local elections. As no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, a run-off round was held on 5 April 2009, which was won by Gjorge Ivanov of the center-right VMRO-DPMNE party. Incumbent President Branko Crvenkovski did not stand for re-election.

Liberal Democratic Party (North Macedonia) Political party in the Republic of Macedonia

The Liberal Democratic Party is a liberal political party in North Macedonia. The Liberal Democratic Party was launched in April 1997 as a merger between the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party. The first leader of the party was Petar Goshev from the Democrats, who was also the last president of the League of Communists of Macedonia. When the Liberal Party was re-established in 1999, a significant portion of the former Liberal Party remained in LDP.

2011 Macedonian parliamentary election general election

Early parliamentary elections were held in the Republic of Macedonia on 5 June 2011, a year earlier than necessary. All 123 parliamentary seats of the Sobranie were due for election, including the 3 seats provided for the first time for representatives of the Macedonian citizens living abroad: 1 from Europe, 1 from North America, and 1 from Asia and Australia. The decision of the ruling parties, the Christian Democratic VMRO-DPMNE and the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), to dissolve the Parliament and call for an early election was preceded by protests of the Social Democratic Union (SDSM), the major opposition party, and subsequent boycott of the Parliament by them, and by other smaller opposition parties.

2013 Macedonian local elections

The Macedonian local election, 2013 are the sixth held-on-schedule local elections for the election of local mayors of the municipalities of the Republic of Macedonia and members of municipality councils. There were two large coalitions on the elections: the Coalition for a Better Macedonia led by VMRO-DPMNE and the Union for the Future led by SDSM. Also present on the elections was the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) and the Union of Roma Forces. There was also coalition made between the two major rival parties VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM in Kičevo and Struga municipalities against the ethnic Albanian candidates Fatmir Dehari and Ramiz Merko of DUI. There were two rounds in the elections on March 24, 2013 and April 7, 2013. The first round of elections were declared the most peaceful elections in the history of independent Macedonia without any serious incidents. The elections were however not untainted, as the situation in the Centar Municipality was labeled as undemocratic by the Macedonian opposition with several voters being labeled as questionable for having only recently received their national ID cards and not being actual inhabitants of this respective municipality. The elections in this municipality lasted for three turns and were monitored by the foreign embassies.

Zoran Zaev Macedonian politician

Zoran Zaev is a Macedonian economist and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of North Macedonia since 31 May 2017. Prior to taking office as Prime Minister, Zaev was a member of the North Macedonian parliament between 2003 and 2005, and mayor of Strumica between 2005 and 2016. He is president of the center-left Social Democratic Union.

Party for the Full Emancipation of the Roma of Macedonia

The Party for the Full Emancipation of the Roma of Macedonia is a political party in North Macedonia representing the Roma minority.

Cabinet of Nikola Gruevski IV

The fourth Cabinet of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is the Republic of Macedonia Government cabinet announced on 19 June 2014. It is the 8th cabinet of the Republic of Macedonia. Gruevski's second cabinet was formed following the April 2014 election won by the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE.

The following lists events that happened during 2014 in the Republic of Macedonia.

2016 Macedonian protests political demonstrations nationwide in Macedonia

In April 2016, protests began in the Republic of Macedonia against the incumbent President Gjorgje Ivanov and the government led by the interim Prime Minister Emil Dimitriev from the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party. Referred to by some as the Colorful Revolution, the protests have started after the controversial decision by President Gjorgje Ivanov to stop the investigation against former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and dozens of politicians who were allegedly involved in a wiretapping scandal. The demonstrations were organized by "Protestiram" and supported from coalition led by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, and other opposition parties, also the newly formed Levica The Left) demanding that the government resigns for the formation of a technical government, and that the parliamentary elections planned for 5 June 2016 are cancelled, on the grounds that the conditions for free and transparent elections are not in place. The government and its supporters, who have organized pro-government rallies, maintain that the elections on June 5 are the only solution to the political crisis, with some observers blaming the opposition for creating a "Ukraine scenario" in Macedonia.

2017 storming of Macedonian Parliament

Storming of the Macedonian Parliament, also known as Bloody Thursday occurred on 27 April 2017, when about 200 Macedonian nationalists stormed the Macedonian Parliament in reaction to the election of Talat Xhaferi, an ethnic Albanian, as speaker of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia. The violence was condemned by the European Union and NATO, who also greeted the election of Xhaferi as new parliament speaker.

2019 North Macedonian presidential election

Presidential elections are due to be held in North Macedonia in April and May 2019. Incumbent President Gjorge Ivanov is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term in office, having previously been elected in 2009 and 2014.

References

  1. ↑ "Macedonia presidential election set for second vote". Agence France-Presse . Yahoo News Australia. 14 April 2014. Archived from the original on 20 April 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  2. ↑ Kole Casule (6 March 2014). "Macedonia calls early parliamentary election for April 27". Reuters. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Macedonia wraps up voting in early parliamentary vote | News | DW.DE | 27.04.2014". DW.DE. 2014-04-13. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
  4. ↑ "Масовна поддршка за Иванов: Собрани 63.253 потписи за неколку часа" (in Macedonian). Kurir.mk. 4 March 2014. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  5. ↑ "СДСМ: Зад кандидатурата на Пендаровски стојат потписите на сите пратеници на СДСМ и коалиционите партнери". a1on.mk. 6 March 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  6. ↑ "Илијаз Халими е кандидат на ДПА за претседател на Македонија". Sitel. 26 February 2014. Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "Зоран Поповски веќе собра 10.000 потписи" (in Macedonian). Dnevnik. 17 February 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  8. ↑ Konstantin Testorides (13 April 2014). "Ethnic Albanians boycott Macedonia vote". Yahoo News. Associated Press. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  9. ↑ "Here is how Pendarovski January slanders his spine: In Prishtina praises Kosovo and criticizes Macedonia | Macedonian News Agency". Kurir.mk. 2014-04-25. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
  10. ↑ "Четиринаесет партии доставија листи на кандидати за пратеници". Utrinski.mk. 30 March 2014. Archived from the original on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  11. 1 2 3 The Republic of Macedonia's 2014 Parliamentary Elections Handbook Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
  12. 1 2 3 "PM tipped for third term as Macedonia votes - Europe". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
  13. ↑ Pajaziti, Naser (19 March 2014). "Polls and surveys that favor presidential nominees". Independent Balkan News Agency.
  14. ↑ "Poll: Highest trust ratings for President Ivanov and VMRO-DPMNE". Republika Online. 23 March 2014.
  15. ↑ Анкета: ВМРО-ДПМНЕ со најголем број пратеници доколку утре има парламентарни избори Archived 28 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine ., Kurir, 1 February 2014.
  16. ↑ Анкета: ВМРО-ДПМНЕ со 63 пратеници, СДСМ со 31 Archived 28 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine ., Sitel , 22 April 2014.
  17. ↑ "9952 domestic and 550 foreign observers will follow elections | Macedonian News Agency". Kurir.mk. 2014-04-25. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
  18. ↑ "ДИК: Иванов 534.154 гласови, Пендаровски 398.008 | 24 ВЕСТИ". 24vesti.mk. 2014-04-15. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
  19. ↑ "4471". Utrinski.mk. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
  20. ↑ "4471". Utrinski.mk. Archived from the original on 30 April 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  21. ↑ Casule, Kole. "Macedonian opposition cries election foul, will not accept results | Reuters". Uk.reuters.com. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
  22. ↑ "Scandalous: Zaev with fir scenario for failure of elections | Macedonian News Agency". Kurir.mk. 2014-04-25. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
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