In North Macedonia, voting for the local elections lasted until 19:30. This was done by the decision of the State Election Commission to enable the voting of all persons, who did not exercise their right to vote until 19.00 and meanwhile waited in line at the polling stations.

The voting process was extended for 30 minutes, mainly due to technical problems related to biometric voting. According to the SEC, 49.29 percent of eligible voters went to the polls by 18:30, or 697,637 out of 1.8 million eligible voters.

The highest turnout was recorded in the municipality of Vevcan, of about 73 percent, while the lowest in Albanian-majority municipalities in the western part of the country, between 30 and 40 percent. The election process was largely smooth and without incidents that would disrupt the voting process.

The next press conference of the SEC has been announced for 21:00. In Sunday's voting, the citizens elected the mayors of 80 municipalities and municipal councils, as well as Skopje with ten municipalities, which is a separate unit of local government.

299 candidates ran for mayor and 577 lists of councilors with 10,600 candidates. The main race in this election takes place between two political blocs; The ruling SDSM and DUI and the opposition parties VMRO-DPMNE and the Alliance for Albanians and Alternatives.

Albanian parties held the race for Albanian-majority cities, such as Tetovo, Gostivar, Chair, Kicevo, Struga, Debar, as well as some rural municipalities. The battle between the Macedonian parties is concentrated in large cities such as Skopje, Bitola, Prilep, Ohrid, Veles, Stip and other smaller municipalities.

(Source: Radio Free Europe)