Skopje, 1 November 2025 (MIA) - Only three women are running for mayor in the second round of the local elections, scheduled for Sunday, November 2, in 33 municipalities.

The State Election Commission reports that Sonja Stamenkova is running in the municipality of Makedonska Kamenica, backed by the SDSM coalition, while Marija Naceva (Negotino) and Natalija Dimitrieva (Demir Kapija) are candidates of the VMRO-DPMNE coalition.

Only one woman was elected mayor in the first round of the 2025 local elections - VMRO-DPMNE backed Beti Stamenkoska Trajkoska, who will head the municipality of Kisela Voda.

Out of a total of 44 mayors elected in the first round, only one is a woman, which is 2.2 percent in terms of gender representation.

The 2025 local elections included a total of 309 mayor candidates, of which only 32 were women, i.e. 10.35 percent.

Prilep saw the largest number of women candidates, i.e. three, whereas two each ran in Bitola, Veles, Karposh, Kisela Voda, Negotino and Centar.

Sixteen municipalities and the City of Skopje had only one woman candidate each.

In a large part of the municipalities, there weren't any women candidates on the ballots at all.

In the second round, 1,013,375 citizens will be eligible to vote, with polling taking place in 33 municipalities where no candidate secured a majority in the first round.

Photo: MIA archive