With the opposition parties boycotting the mayoral elections in Stip, only five candidates, from the ruling SDSM party and satellite parties, submitted their candidacies. VMRO-DPMNE said that it will boycott the election because of the huge spike in coronavirus cases, and called it unnecessary, given that the general municipal election is scheduled a year from now.

The seat is vacant after Mayor Blagoja Bocvarovski was named Transportation Minister by Zoran Zaev. Elections are also planned in Plasnica, where Mayor Ismail Jahoski was elected to the Parliament and his DUI party is nominating his brother, while the opposition is also boycotting.

SDSM nominated doctor Sasko Nikolov as Mayor. Other candidates come from the small TMRO party, a few independent candidacies and lists and the Integra party – which helped SDSM by taking a small portion of the right wing vote during the July 15 elections. Integra is nominating the well liked local Simon Polikarp, who came to Stip as student from Nigeria and has lived in the city for decades.