Skopje, 2 November 2025 (MIA) – President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova said Sunday she expects peaceful local elections after which the elected mayors and councillors should “get down to work.”

“I expect a peaceful day, to conclude the elections before the mayors and councillors get down to work,” stated Siljanovska-Davkova after voting in a polling station in Kole Nedelkovski elementary school in Skopje’s Centar municipality.

Siljanovska-Davkova conveyed two important messages – the first message is that only voters having permanent residence in a municipality should vote on election day and the second involved women since there are only a few female candidates in this year’s elections despite needing only two signatures to run as independent candidates.

“I’ll allow myself to comment on something that is quite unusual in Europe and around the world, while it is regular practice here. Voters in European countries in local elections vote only if they have permanent residence in the municipality, meaning they reside there night and day. We have a paradox – people will arrive only for an hour after voting already in Austria, France, Switzerland to elect mayors and councillors. It is an unknown democratic phenomenon, look it up,” Siljanovska-Davkova told reporters.

The President said she is surprised with the fact that only a few female candidates run in this year’s local elections despite having the chance to run after securing only two signatures.

“This time, women have had a real chance to become candidates for mayors with only two signatures. What happened is that only a few became candidates. There are probably several reasons – firstly, surprise – suddenly you realize you can run after securing only two signatures. We are responsible creatures and we always question ourselves if we are the best solution and if we can raise to the occasion. Secondly, it has to do with political culture. Unfortunately, there are still strong elements of patriarchal and parochial political culture. This incident with an article lacking due to the Constitutional Court decision that would regulate candidacies has shown that a serious problem lies also in us, women. I’m not saying that we don’t have faith in ourselves, but I believe it has to do with the fact that we are far more responsible because we have a harder life. We have to learn this lesson before we change things. I was faced with the same question by the international community on why so few women had decided to run in the elections this time,” Siljanovska-Davkova said. 

She said the election campaign was “decent with respect.”

“I’d say unexpected judging by some previous incidents or I’d say quite expected given the fact that after 30 years of democracy, this kind of campaign, pretty decent with respect, should be expected. We rarely saw attacks ad hominem, projects were presented, but there were also incidents. I’d like to note the example of Bujar Osmani, not in the context of incidents, but in terms of fair and democratic behaviour,” President Siljanovska-Davkova told reporters. 

Photo: MIA