2025 North Macedonian local elections

Local elections were held in North Macedonia on 19 October 2025,^[1] with a second round on 2 November 2025.^[2] The elections were to elect councilors and mayors in 80 municipalities and the City of Skopje and were announced on 9 August 2025 by the Speaker of the Assembly Afrim Gashi. According to the State Election Commission's calendar, the deadline for submitting candidacies for councilor and mayor lists was 13 September 2025.^[3] National issues were dominant in the debates during the elections. The elections had the lowest turnout since the country's independence.

On 9 August 2025, Assembly Speaker Afrim Gashi announced the elections.^[4] 1,832,415 voters were eligible to vote, including 112,000 temporarily working voters or voters residing abroad, 2,162 voters in custody or serving prison sentences, and 450 voters residing in nursing homes.^[5]

The campaign for the first round lasted from 29 September to 17 October.^[6][7] The election campaign was dominated by national questions, such as issues of identity, minority rights, and the stalled EU accession process. Venko Filipče, leader of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), proposed a resolution to define national positions on the country's EU path and tried to persuade the government to comply with obligations under the framework for EU membership negotiations by 10 February 2026. He also said he would vote to include the Bulgarians into the constitution of North Macedonia, alongside other ethnic groups. Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, leader of VMRO-DPMNE, rejected the proposal, arguing it fails to protect national interests. In rallies, he accused the opposition of accepting Bulgaria's demands.^[8]

Despite the 40% gender quota for candidate lists, the mayoral candidates were overwhelmingly men (277 candidates, 89,6%), while women were 32 (10,4%) candidates out of a total of 309 mayoral candidates. International observers expressed concerns about sexist rhetoric against female candidates and women's political participation in general, especially online.^[9][10]

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network moderated seven TV debates, in which mayoral candidates from Albanian-majority municipalities stated their plans for the next four years. Local issues, such as urban planning, infrastructure, education, water supply, transparency and gender equality were part of the debates.^[11]

The ruling VMRO-DPMNE won the most mayoral spots, 33, in the first round. Meanwhile, VLEN won 5 municipalities, SDSM won 3, and NAI won 3.^[12]

The State Election Commission confirmed on 20 October that 4 municipalities failed to reach the required 1/3 minimum turnout, and the first round will have to be repeated no longer than 60 days after the publishing of the official results.^[13]

In total, VMRO-DPMNE achieved 54 mayors (12 more than in the previous elections), including in the City of Skopje, while SDSM gained only six mayors (unlike the 16 mayoral seats it received in the previous elections). North Macedonia has 80 municipalities, of which 37 were part of the second round. Turnout was 41,47%, lower than the 46,48% turnout from the first round. VLEN managed to achieve mayors in 9 municipalities, while NAI only won in 4 municipalities, a decline from the 11 mayoral seats it won in the previous elections. Levica failed to gain any mayoral seats.^[14][15] 4 women were elected as mayors.^[16] As the turnout did not exceed 50% in either round, the elections had the lowest turnout since the country's independence.^[17]

After the negative result of the first round of the election, Filipče publicly stated his disappointment, but was hopeful for a "more positive", second round comeback.^[18]

After the first round, OSCE stated: "The campaign was competitive in North Macedonia's local elections and voters had a wide range of political alternatives to choose from, but they were negatively affected by systemic legal gaps and shortcomings in the oversight of campaign finances as well as political polarization and deep public disenchantment with politics."^[9]

Regarding the second round, OSCE stated:

The second round of North Macedonia's mayoral elections offered voters a choice between political alternatives and the campaign was competitive in most municipalities, but not all candidates had equal campaign conditions and the continued involvement of government officials in the campaign continued as well as persistent allegations of pressure on voters and numerous allegations of vote buying were of concern.^[19]

After SDSM's heavy defeat in the elections, a vice-president of the party resigned and Filipče announced changes to the party.^[20]