Skopje, 24 April 2024 (MIA) – Polling stations on Wednesday’s first round of the 2024 presidential elections open at 7 am and will close at 7 pm. If the vote is interrupted for over an hour, the process will be extended for as long it was halted, but not longer than three hours.

Voters who will be inside the polling stations at 7 pm will be allowed to cast their vote before they are closed.

After the polling stations are closed, the municipal election commissions sum up the results of the vote for the presidential candidates all the while preparing minutes before transporting all election-related materials to the State Election Commission (SEC).

SEC releases the initial results by posting them on its website successively, whereas the results based on the data from the minutes of the municipal election commissions are released 12 hours after the elections have been concluded. 

The State Election Commission should release the final results of the elections immediately or 24 hours after the election day at the latest. 

The candidate who will win the majority of votes out of the total number of voters will be declared election winner in the first round.

If no candidate wins the required majority in the first round, the two candidates who will win the most votes in the first round are set to qualify to vie in the second round, slated for May 8. 

Photo: MIA