The Albanian coalition National Alliance for Integration (NAI) won two municipalities in the repeat local elections held in several municipalities of North Macedonia on Sunday, according to preliminary results.
The NAI candidate — a coalition led by the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) — Valbon Limani, defeated the candidate of the other Albanian coalition VLEN, Nevzat Bejta, to win the municipality of Gostivar.
NAI also won Vrapčište, with candidate Isen Shabani.
Shabani’s opponent in these elections was Zulhajrat Demiri, who was supported by the Group of Voters, according to preliminary results.
In addition to these two municipalities, repeat local elections were also held in Mavrovo-Rostuša and Centar Župa.
The municipality of Mavrovo-Rostuša was won by Oner Jakupovski, supported by the coalition Your Macedonia, led by the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE.
Jakupovski, who had also been a candidate in the first round of elections in 2025, ran again for mayor against the same opponent, Anes Ahmeti, supported by the coalition led by LSDM.
The sole candidate in Centar Župa, Arijan Ibrahim from the Democratic Party of Turks, secured 973 votes in the municipality.
These results were announced late Sunday at a press conference by Radica Todorovska Aleksovska, spokesperson for the State Election Commission.
She said the commission would announce the official preliminary results on Monday, once the official polling station reports are received.
During election day, police recorded no incidents or breaches of public order.
The Ministry of Interior, in a statement, assessed that the repeat local elections were held in a “peaceful, fair and democratic atmosphere.”
The reason for the repeat elections was insufficient voter turnout during the vote held on October 19 last year.
One of the conditions for the elections to be considered successful was that at least one-third of registered voters on the Electoral Roll participate.
However, unlike the previous vote, under electoral rules, no population registration was required for the repeat elections held on January 11. /RFE/
