Macedonian general election, 2014

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Macedonian presidential election, 2014
  1. REDIRECT Template:Country data North Macedonia
← 2009 13 and 27 April 2014 2019 →
  Ǵorge Ivanov 2012-04-27.jpg 126px
Nominee Gjorge Ivanov Stevo Pendarovski
Party VMRO-DPMNE SDSM
Popular vote 534,910 398,077
Percentage 55.28% 41.14%
President before election

Gjorge Ivanov
VMRO-DPMNE

 Elected President

Gjorge Ivanov
VMRO-DPMNE
Macedonian parliamentary election, 2014
← 2011 27 April 2014 2016 →
All 123 seats to the Sobranie
  First party Second party
  Nikola Gruevski Zoran Zaev
Leader Nikola Gruevski Zoran Zaev
Party VMRO-DPMNE SDSM
Leader since 2002 2013
Last election 56 seats 42 seats
Seats won 61 34
Seat change Increase 5 Decrease 8
Popular vote 481,615 283,955
Percentage 42.98% 25.34%
Prime Minister before election

Nikola Gruevski
VMRO-DPMNE

 Prime Minister

Nikola Gruevski
VMRO-DPMNE

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. General elections[a] were held in the Republic of Macedonia in April 2014 to elect the President and members of parliament. The first round of the presidential elections were held on 13 April, with incumbent president Gjorge Ivanov getting the lead with 52% of the vote. However, as he did not receive the support of 50% of all registered voters, a second round was held on 27 April, alongside parliamentary elections, with Ivanov and the ruling coalition led by VMRO-DPMNE claiming victory.[1][2]

Background

The parliamentary election was brought forward to coincide with that of the president following VMRO-DPMNE and DUI's failure to agree on a combined presidential candidate.[3]

President

Candidates

The incumbent president Gjorge Ivanov, supported by the governing party, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), successfully nominated himself for reelection after collecting 63,253 signatures from Macedonian citizens.[4] The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia candidate Stevo Pendarovski was nominated by the signatures of the opposition parties' members of parliament.[5] Other candidates nominated by over 10,000 signatures included Zoran T. Popovski from the Citizen Option for Macedonia, and Ilijaz Halimi from the Democratic Party of Albanians.[6][7]

Campaign

The first round of the presidential election was held on 13 April. The candidates were Gjorge Ivanov (VMRO-DPMNE), Stevo Pendarovski (SDSM), Ilijaz Halimi (DPA), and Zoran Popovski (GROM). The ethnic Albanian party Democratic Union for Integration, a junior coalition member, campaigned for boycott of the presidential election, opposing VMRO-DPMNE's decision to run Ivanov for reelection.[8]

SDSM's Pendarovski controversially visited Pristina where he criticised the government policies in terms of foreign policy and that Albania has the highest GDP in the region despite reports by institutions and other politicians saying it was Macedonia.[9]

Parliament

Parties and coalitions

Fourteen political parties and coalitions contested the election, having submitted candidate lists for MPs in at least one of the six constituencies within the country and the three in the diaspora. Three among them, namely, VMRO-DPMNE, SDSM and DUI, submitted their candidate lists in all nine constituencies.[10]

VMRO-DPMNE

The VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition consisted of 22 parties: VMRO-DPMNE, the Socialist Party of Macedonia, the Democratic Union, Democratic Renewal of Macedonia, the Democratic Party of Turks, the Democratic Party of Serbs in Macedonia, the Union of Roma in Macedonia, the United Party for Emancipation, the Party of Justice, the Party of the Democratic Action of Macedonia, the Party of the Vlachs from Macedonia, the Party for Integration of the Roma, the Bosniak Democratic Party, Democratic Forces of the Roma, Permanent Macedonian Radical Unification, the New Liberal Party, the People's Movement for Macedonia, VMRO–Democratic Party, VMRO-United, Fatherland's Macedonian Organisation for Radical Renewal–Vardar–Aegean–Pirin TMORO – VEP, Macedonian Alliance, and VMRO – Macedonian.[11]

SDSM

The SDSM-led coalition included nine parties; the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, the New Social Democratic Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, United for Macedonia, the Party for the Movement of the Turks in Macedonia, the Party for the Full Emancipation of the Roma of Macedonia, the Serbian Party in Macedonia, the Democratic Alliance of the Vlachs in Macedonia, and the Sandžak List.[11]

GROM

The Citizen Option for Macedonia (GROM)-led alliance consisted of the Citizen Option for Macedonia, the Liberal Party, the Serbian Progressive Party in Macedonia, the Union of Tito's Left Forces, and the Party of Free Democrats.[11]

Campaign

SDSM's Zoran Zaev said that the election was about "choosing whether [Macedonians] will support the fight for freedom and the right to a better life, or continue with state robbery."[12] Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said: "We need a majority so nobody can blackmail us and we can keep up with the programme...that would lead Macedonia into the EU and NATO."[3]

Opinion polls

President

Poll source Date Sample size Ivanov
VMRO-DPMNE		 Pendarovski
SDSM		 Halimi
DPA		 Popovski
GROM		 None Undecided
Center for Information and Research (CIG)[13] March 2014 2,400 29.3% 19.4% 6.1% - 8.7% 35%
Center for Research and Analysis[14] March 2014 1,839 42.2% 19.7% 5.2% 5.4% 9.1% 18.4%
Election Results 13 April 2014 869,137 51.7% 37.5% 2.2% 1.8%

Parliament

Poll source Date Sample size VMRO-DPMNE SDSM DUI DPA NDR GROM
Dimitrija Čupovski[15] January 2014 1,530 59 36 15 7 1 2
Dimitrija Čupovski[16] April 2014 1,500 63 31 15 10 1 –

Monitoring and external influence

The second round of the election had accreditations given to 9,952 domestic and 550 foreign observers, as well as 283 translators, according to the State Election Commission.[17]

The United States and European Union had publicly urged political leaders to ensure the election was "credible and transparent," amidst complains by the SDSM.[12]

Results

President

In second round voting, centres were open from 5:00 GMT to 17:00 GMT. Turnout was reported as 9.58% in the first three hours.[12]

Gjorge Ivanov was re-elected, having won 55.28% of the total votes.[18] Following the election, Stevo Pendarovski called for an investigation of the election by external observers.[19]

Candidate Party First round Second round
Votes % Votes %
Gjorge Ivanov VPMO-DPMNE 449,442 51.69 534,910 55.28
Stevo Pendarovski Social Democratic Union 326,164 37.51 398,077 41.14
Ilijaz Halimi Democratic Party of Albanians 38,966 4.48
Zoran T. Popovski Citizen Option for Macedonia 31,368 3.61
Invalid/blank votes 23,677 – 34,707 –
Total 869,547 100 967,676 100
Registered voters/turnout 1,779,572 48.86 1,779,572 54.36
Source: SEC

Parliament

The incumbent government, led by VMRO-DPMNE, won 42.98% of the votes to claim victory ahead of SDSM with 25.34% and DUI with 13.71%. The 123 seats in the Sobranie were won by six political parties and coalitions with VMRO-DPMNE winning 61 seats, SDSM winning 34 seats, DUI winning 19 seats, DPA winning 7 seats and GROM and NDP winning 1 seat each.[20]

Party Votes % Seats +/–
VPMO-DPMNE coalition 481,615 42.98 61 +5
Social Democratic Union coalition 283,955 25.34 34 −8
Democratic Union for Integration 153,646 13.71 19 +4
Democratic Party of Albanians 66,393 5.92 7 −1
Citizen Option for Macedonia coalition 31,610 2.82 1 New
National Democratic Revival 17,783 1.59 1 −1
VMRO–People's Party 16,772 1.50 0 0
Coalition for a Positive Macedonia 10,566 0.94 0 New
Dignity 9,265 0.83 0 New
Social Democratic Party 4,700 0.42 0 0
Party for a European Future 3,194 0.29 0 New
Popular Movement for Macedonia 1,925 0.17 0 New
Party for Economic Change 21 1,281 0.11 0 New
Party for Democratic Prosperity 385 0.03 0 0
Invalid/blank votes 37,654 – – –
Total 1,120,744 100 123 0
Registered voters/turnout 1,780,128 62.96 – –
Source: SEC

Reactions

After voting ended the SDSM's Zoran Zaev said that "SDSM and our opposition coalition will not recognise the election process, neither the presidential nor the parliamentary." He accused the government of "abusing the entire state system."[21] It followed reports that Gruevski had warned that the SDSM was preparing, as an alibi, to react in such a manner to the election because they were due to lose the election.[22]

Notes

  • a The term "general elections" is used to refer to the presidential and parliamentary elections that were, incidentally, held on the same date since the Republic of Macedonia has a parliamentary system in which both elections are held separately.

References

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  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 The Republic of Macedonia's 2014 Parliamentary Elections Handbook Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Анкета: ВМРО-ДПМНЕ со најголем број пратеници доколку утре има парламентарни избори, Kurir, 1 February 2014.
  16. ↑ Анкета: ВМРО-ДПМНЕ со 63 пратеници, СДСМ со 31, Sitel, 22 April 2014.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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