VMRO DPMNE Suffers Shock Defeat in Macedonia Polls

The right-wing VMRO DPMNE party of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski suffered a crushing defeat on Sunday in elections for 81 mayors and municipal councils, completely losing its former dominant position in local government.

The party, which in the last local elections in 2013 won 56 municipalities, including the capital Skopje, on Sunday won only in three rural areas near Skopje.

According to the first official results, published on Monday, VMRO DPMNE also has a slight lead before the second round, set for October 29, in six more municipalities.

The most significant is in its former bastion of Stip where its candidate won some 30 more votes than his opponent from the ruling Social Democrats, SDSM, which will make for a tight second round.

The SDSM, according to the election commission, won the mayoral races in 37 municipalities in the first round and has a convincing lead in another 13 municipalities.

The SDSM, which won only four mayoral seats last time, is also close to clinching victory in Skopje, the main prize in these elections.

Results show that out of 97.52 per cent of counted votes, it reached the threshold of over 50 per cent of all votes, meaning victory in the first round.

Exceeding all predictions, the SDSM has snatched a convincing victory or lead in many former VMRO DPMNE strongholds, including the towns of Prilep and Ohrid and the Skopje municipalities of Gazi Baba, Butel, Kisela Voda and Aerodrom.

Almost the entire east of the country, which was also seen as a VMRO DPMNE stronghold for the past decade, is now in the hands of the SDSM as well.

...<span>macedonia local elections</span><span>Macedonian PM and SDSM leader Zoran Zaev celebrated the...