English
A narrow race is unfolding in the capital Skopje, and it’s not for the top of the mayoral ticket but for the second ranked candidate who will face VMRO-DPMNE’s Orce Gjorgjievski in the second round in two weeks.
Gjorgjievski dominated the race with over 80 thousand votes. But, no less than four candidates have realistic chances of being the second ranked candidate. Kaja Sukova from SDSM, who was considered the favorite, has 23,500 votes, and is trailing Amar Mecinovic from the Levica party who has 27,500 votes with 88 percent of the votes counted. It’s a dramatic downgrade for SDSM, who feared that they will fall behind Levica in some municipalities and become the 3rd strongest party, but the worst case scenario for them is this happening in Skopje.
Levica leader Dimitar Apasiev and Mecinovic held a triumphant press conference, declaring the end of the two party system in the Macedonian camp.
And to make matters even worse for SDSM, Bashkim Bakiu from VLEN has 24,700 votes, and is slightly ahead of Sukova. And DUI candidate Skender Rexhepi is not far behind her with 22,300 votes, meaning that the SDSM candidate could theoretically fall to 5th place in the mayoral race in the capital city.
