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2020 North Macedonian parliamentary election

← 2016 15 July 2020 2024 →
All 120 seats in the Assembly of the Republic
Turnout	51.34% 15.45 pp
Reporting	98.3%as of 05:49 GMT+2
Leader Zoran Zaev Hristijan Mickoski Ali Ahmeti Party SDSM–BESA VMRO-DPMNE BDI Alliance We can Renewal – Leader since 2013 2017 2002 Last election 54 seats 51 seats 10 seats   File:Ziadin Sela1.jpg Leader Ziadin Sela Dimitar Apasiev Menduh Thaçi Party AS-Alternativa Levica PDSh Alliance Now is the Time – – Leader since 2016 2015 2007 Last election 3 seats 0 seats 2 seats
Incumbent Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski SDSM

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Early parliamentary elections were held in North Macedonia on 15 July 2020. They had been 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 elections were initially planned for 12 April, but were postponed until July due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Background

On 17 October 2019 the European Council did not give North Macedonia and Albania a date to start European Union membership negotiations, after it was opposed by French President Emmanuel Macron. The rejection was seen as a blow to Prime Minister Zoran Zaev's government in North Macedonia. Previously, in February 2019 the country formally changed its name from Macedonia to North Macedonia to resolve a longstanding dispute with Greece that blocked it from joining the European Union and NATO, after high level talks between Prime Minister Zaev and his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras throughout 2018 led to the Prespa Agreement signed on 17 June 2018. In May 2019 the candidate from Zaev's SDSM party, Stevo Pendarovski, won in the presidential election in a run off vote. On 27 March 2020, North Macedonia officially joined NATO.

In response to the European Council's decision, it was announced by Zaev that early parliamentary elections would be held on 12 April 2020. The date was chosen because it is expected North Macedonia will be a full member of NATO by then.

Electoral system

Of the 123 seats in the Assembly of the Republic, 120 are elected from six 20-seat constituencies in North Macedonia using closed list proportional representation, with seats allocated using the d'Hondt method. The remaining three seats are elected by Macedonians living abroad, but are only filled if the number of votes exceeds that of the elected candidate with the fewest votes in North Macedonia in the previous election. If a list crosses this threshold, it wins one seat; to win two seats, a list needs to win twice the number of votes, and to win three seats the threshold is three times the number of votes. These seats were not filled in the 2016 elections due to insufficient turnout.

Campaign

Both Zaev's Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) and the nationalist opposition VMRO-DPMNE, which opposes the name change to North Macedonia, began campaigning by early October 2019 as it seemed there would be a snap election. The SDSM campaign emphasised the party's role in the country's Euro-Atlantic integration, including resolving the dispute with Greece and securing NATO membership. The VMRO-DPMNE campaign opposes the name change and accused the government of corruption.

On 19 February, the Alliance for Albanians (AA) and Alternativa announced an electoral coalition.

On 27 February, the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia and Besa Movement announced an electoral coalition.

The elections took place amid the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

Endorsements

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has endorsed VMRO-DPMNE, while the ruling Social Democrats received endorsements from Jean Asselborn, the Foreign Minister of Luxembourg, as well as Michael Roth, who serves as German Deputy Minister for Europe. Also endorsing the Social Democrats were Pedro Sánchez (the Prime Minister of Spain) and Alexis Tsipras (the former Prime Minister of Greece). The ALDE Party endorsed the Liberal Democratic Party, and the European Green Party endorsed Democratic Renewal of Macedonia.

Conduct

The head of the election commission, Oliver Derkoski, commented that the voting day passed calmly and only sporadic instances of irregularities were reported. Local electoral observation missions also expressed satisfaction at the conduct of the polls. Ljupco Nikolovski, the secretary-general of SDSM, commended the polls, saying "Today we had a calm, dignifying, and from health perspective, a safe day." A local observation mission criticized the lack of adequate mechanism for the disabled to vote.

However, the opposition Alliance for Albanians and Alternativa movements, both upholding the interests of the ethnic Albanian minority, accused DUI (another Albanian minority party) and SDSM of committing fraud to win. North Macedonia's public prosecution also received multiple complaints on election day.

When vote counting began, the electoral commission's website was down for one hour. Derkoski said that it was probably due to external hacker attacks, but did not hamper actual vote counting.

Opinion polls

Preliminary results

Preliminary results in the 2020 North Macedonian parliamentary election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	We Can (SDSM–BESA–VMRO–NP coalition)		36.12	46	8
bgcolor=Template:Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity/meta/color|	Renewal (VMRO-DPMNE coalition)		34.85	44	7
bgcolor=Template:Democratic Union for Integration/meta/color|	Democratic Union for Integration		11.30	15	5
	Alliance for Albanians–Alternative		8.52	12	9
	The Left		4.17	2	2
	Democratic Party of Albanians		1.51	1	1
	Integra		1.36	0	New
	Civic Democratic Union		0.40	0	New
	MORO – Workers Party		0.36	0
	Voice for Macedonia		0.31	0	New
	Never North, Only Macedonia		0.29	0
	Social Democratic Union Skopje		0.29	0
	Your Party		0.21	0	New
	Democrats		0.17	0	New
	Roma People's Party		0.14	0	New
Invalid/blank votes			–	–	–
Total			100	120	0
Registered voters/turnout		1,814,263		–	–
Source: State Election Commission (3,421 of 3,480 polling stations reporting)

References

1. North Macedonia Leaders Agree Election Date Balkan Insight, 15 June 2020
2. Government of North Macedonia officially postpones the elections European Western Balkans, 23 March 2020
3. European Council Fails to Reward North Macedonia, Albania Balkan Insight, 17 October 2019.
4. North Macedonia name change enters force Deutsche Welle, 12 February 2019.
5. "Q & A on Prespa agreement". Влада на Република Северна Македонија (in Macedonian). 2019-02-23. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
6. "Greece and FYROM PMs to meet over 'Macedonia' name dispute". www.neoskosmos.com. Neos Kosmos. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
7. "PMs to meet after 'Macedonia' name dispute rally in Greece". www.sbs.com. SBS. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
8. "Tsipras and Zaev unblock Euro-integration process". Archived from the original on 25 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
9. North Macedonia's pro-Western candidate wins presidential vote Reuters, 4 May 2019.
10. Early Elections Test North Macedonia’s Unity over EU Drive Balkan Insight, 21 October 2019.
11. Debeuf, Koert (21 October 2019). Snap elections in North Macedonia after EU rejection. EU Observer.
12. North Macedonian leaders agree to hold snap election on April 12 Reuters, 20 October 2019.
13. North Macedonia Sets Date for Snap Election After EU Talks Fail Bloomberg, 20 October 2019
14. North Macedonia to enter NATO by April 2020, Ministers announce. European Western Balkans, 25 September 2019.
15. Electoral system IPU
16. Early Parliamentary Elections 11 December 2016 OSCE
17. North Macedonia Parties Gear up for Possible Elections Balkan Insight, 4 October 2019
18. Sela dhe Gashi nesër nënshkruajnë zyrtarisht marrëveshjen për koalicionim Gazeta Express, 19 February 2020
19. "Најголема мултиетничка коалиција - СДСМ и БЕСА го официјализираа предизборниот договор".
20. North Macedonia holds first election since changing its name
21. ^ "Live Blog: North Macedonia Elections 2020". Balkan Insight. 2020-07-15. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
22. State Election Commission (3,421 of 3,480 polling stations reporting)

v t e Elections and referendums in North Macedonia
Presidential elections	1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Parliamentary elections	1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2008 2011 2014 2016 2020 2024
Local elections	1990 1996 [mk] 2000 [mk] 2005 [mk] 2009 [mk] 2013 2017 2021 [mk] 2025
Referendums	1991 2004 2018
See also: Elections in Yugoslavia

• Current elections
• 2020 elections in Europe
• 2020 in North Macedonia
• Elections in North Macedonia
• Elections postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• July 2020 events in Europe