site.btaUPDATED Seven Presidential Candidates Meet Civil Support Requirement for North Macedonia's Elections, Poll Shows VMRO-DPMNE's Siljanovska as Winner

Seven presidential candidates meet the requirement for minimum 10,000 signatures to run in the April 24 elections in North Macedonia, shows a check at the State Election Commission after the signature collection deadline. All 15 candidates had until midnight on March 8 to gather civil support for their participation in the presidential elections. 

As at 8 p.m. on March 8, the highest number of signatures had been collected by Gordana Siljanovska (VMRO-DPMNE), 28,086 signatures, followed by Stevo Pendarovski (civil candidate backed by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, SDSM) with 22,413 signatures, Stevco Jakimovski (GROM) with 11,292 signatures, Maksim Dimitrievski (ZNAM) with 11,605 signatures, Bujar Osman (Democratic Union for Integration, DSI) with 11,085 signatures, Arben Taravari (Albanian opposition bloc) with 10,708 signatures, and Biljana Vankovska (Left) with 10,568 signatures. The other eight candidates failed to prove they have enough civil support to run in the presidential elections.

The State Election Commission will now check whether the seven candidates meet all legal requirements to run in the April 24 elections. The election campaign begins on April 4.

According to an opinion poll by the Centre for Research and Political Communication in North Macedonia, the first round of presidential elections will be won by Gordana Siljanovska with 18.2% of the votes. President Stevo Pendarovski will be backed by 15% for a second term in office. Next would be Arben Taravari with 7.3%, Bujar Osmani with 4.9%, Maksim Dimitrievski with 2.6%, Biljana Vanovska with 2.2%, and Stevco Jakimovski with 1.0% of the votes. Twenty-six of respondents do not know who they will vote for on April 24, and 22.8% would not back any of the presidential candidates.

The survey was conducted by telephone from March 4 and 7.