Skopje, 30 September 2025 (MIA) – Parties and independent candidates on day two of the 2025 local elections campaign are resuming their activities to present their programs to voters. The local election campaign ends on October 17 before a 24-hour election silence starts on the eve of the October 19 elections. The second round of this year’s local elections takes place on November 2. 

VMRO-DPMNE will hold rallies in Vevchani and Struga with the central rally taking place in Resen. VMRO-DPMNE and its coalition kicked off its election campaign in Skopje to promote its candidate running for mayor of Skopje, Orce Gjorgjievski. 

SDSM and the coalition will hold rallies in Lozovo, Karbinci, Probishtip and Shtip. In a central rally yesterday in Krushevo, SDSM promoted its mayoral candidate Tome Hristovski. 

Vlen coalition will hold an election convention this evening in Skopje’s Boris Trajkovski sports hall to promote its mayoral candidates.

Skender Rexhepi-Zeid, the candidate of the National Alliance for Integration (NAI) for Skopje mayor, will present the election program for the City of Skopje. On Monday, Bujar Osmani, NAI’s candidate for mayor of the Municipality of Chair, presented his program ahead of the October local elections.

On Monday, the candidate for Kumanovo mayor and ZNAM leader, Maksim Dimitrievski organized meetings and activities with supporters.

According to the Electoral Code, Article 69a, “an election campaign is considered a public gathering and other public events organized by a participant in the election campaign, public display of posters, video presentations in public places, election media and online presentation, distribution of printed materials and public presentation of candidates confirmed by the competent election authorities and their programs.”

The 2025 local elections are the eighth elections since the country declared independence in 1991 and fourth elections for mayors and councillors in 80 municipalities and the City of Skopje.

309 mayoral candidates and 576 list of candidates for members of municipal councils – a total of 10,490 candidates – will be vying in the elections. Votes will be cast in 3,480 polling stations.

22 parties, 19 coalitions and 119 independent candidates will participate. A total of 16 candidates run for Skopje mayor.

There are a total of 1,832,415 voters registered in the voters list ahead of the October local elections. Of those, 1,717,803 voters are registered in the extracts of the voters list.

According to the Electoral Code, local elections are held every four years in the second half of October.

The local self-government is organized in 80 municipalities and the City of Skopje, being a separate local self-government unit. The City of Skopje includes 10 municipalities.

Local elections in the country were held in 1996, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2021. 

MIA file photo