Initial projections from the second round of the local elections show that opposition candidates are replicating their victories from the first round and will secure the key contested seats. These include Skopje, Bitola and Ohrid.

VMRO-DPMNE, which runs its analytical center to compute the election results, is briefing the press that they have secured a win in the capital Skopje, a race on which Zoran Zaev staked his position as Prime Minister. VMRO backed candidate Danela Arsovska, who faced all out dirty attacks in the last days of the campaign, won the first round by 8,000 votes and seems solid as VMRO supporting parts of the city turned out, while turnout in Albanian majority areas, which largely support her opponent Petre Silegov, dropped off a cliff.

In Ohrid, VMRO-DPMNE candidate Kiril Pecakov declared victory through his social media accounts. He defeated his opponent and incumbent Mayor Konstantin Georgievski by 2,000 votes in the first round, but the city saw a significantly higher turnout today, which caused some uncertainty in the race.
VMRO reports that Bitola, another narrow VMRO win in the first round, looks strong in the second round for their candidate Toni Konjanovski.

The opposition party also declared victories in smaller cities such as Gevgelija and Radovis, while its ally SPM declared a win over SDSM in Kratovo. In Skopje’s Karpos distrit, GROM candidate Stevce Jakimovski, who is supported by VMRO, leads against his SDSM oppoennt Dusko Veskovski by less than a thousand votes, but from a small share of votes processed.