According to the latest data published by the State Election Commission (SEC) as of yesterday at 8:00 p.m., a total of 38,396 citizens had signed petitions for the position of president of the state. Bujar Osmani, the candidate of the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), has successfully gathered the required 10,000 signatures, with 10,528 citizens endorsing his candidacy.

Following Osmani, the candidate closest to collecting the necessary 10,000 signatures is Maxim Dimitrievski, the leader of ZNAM-Za nasha Macedonia, with 8,400 collected signatures. Arben Tarvari, the candidate of the opposition bloc “Vredi,” has 7,513 signatures, while Biljana Vankovska-Cvetkovska, supported by the Left party, has gathered 6,237 signatures. GROM candidate Stevco Jakimovski has 4,718 signatures. Other candidates on the list have fewer signatures each – Mersiha Smailović, supported by the Bosniac Democratic Union, has 696; Velo Markovski has 682; Gjorgi Manaskov has 186; Zorica Cvetkovska has 99, and Mr. Poposki has 19. SEC data indicates that, in these four days, not a single signature has been received for candidate Tome Nikoloski.

The procedure for collecting signatures, initiated on February 23, will continue daily from 8 am to 8 pm, and on the last day, March 8, collection will extend until midnight. Signature collection locations include all regional departments and SEC offices located in the headquarters of 34 local governments and in front of competent notaries.

When a group of voters submits a list of presidential candidates, they must collect at least 10,000 signatures from registered voters in the Electoral List. If deputies submit the list, they need at least 30 signatures from the deputies.

Participants in the elections must submit the lists of candidates for the president of the state to the SEC by midnight on March 19. The deadline for collecting signatures applies to both the presidential and parliamentary elections.

According to the SEC, diplomatic-consular representations (DCP) have received a total of 166 applications from citizens temporarily working or staying abroad to vote in the presidential elections on April 24 and the parliamentary elections on May 8.

Citizens can register for voting electronically or at our country’s DCPs in the countries where they live until March 18.

Presidential elections are scheduled for April 24, with the second round on May 8, coinciding with the parliamentary elections