Election campaign for the October 17 local elections begins on Monday and runs over the next 20 days.

Political parties and independent candidates have already announced their activities in the campaign, although most of the candidates for mayors and councilors in recent months have already had informal meetings with citizens and presentation of their programs on social networks.

SDSM starts the election campaign with events in Demir Hisar and Bitola, VMRO-DPMNE with a rally at the Ancient Theater in Ohrid, DUI will start the campaign in Gostivar and Besa in Skopje.

The SEC previously confirmed 303 lists for mayors and 567 for councilors. The order of the candidates on the ballot was determined by a draw at a session of the SEC.

1,824,864 voters are eligible to vote in the local elections on October 17, 2021. The SEC closed the Voters’ List at a session on Friday.

For the first time, fingerprints scanners will be used in the 2021 Local Elections in order to establish the voter’s identity and to avoid possible voting irregularities. These elections will also be organized with measures against Covid-19, which will become the third consecutive elections organized in such conditions after the local elections in Stip and Plasnica due to the resignations of the mayors and the parliamentary elections in July last year. The campaign ends on October 15, followed by an election silence and election day. The second round of local elections will be held on October 31.