Macedonian parliamentary election, 2016

Macedonian parliamentary election, 2016

11 December 2016
All 120 seats to the Sobranie 61 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Nikola Gruevski Zoran Zaev Party VMRO-DPMNE SDSM Leader since 2003 2013 Last election 61 seats, 43.0% 34 seats, 25.3% Seats won 51 49 Seat change 10 15 Popular vote 454,577 436,981 Percentage 39.39% 37.87%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Ali Ahmeti Bilal Kasami Party BDI Besa Movement Leader since 2002 2014 Last election 19 seats, 13.7% 0 seats, 0% Seats won 10 5 Seat change 9 5 Popular vote 86,796 57,868 Percentage 7.52% 5.01%
Winning party by municipality      VMRO-DPMNE      SDSM      DUI      BESA
Prime Minister before election Emil Dimitriev VMRO-DPMNE Elected Prime Minister Zoran Zaev SDSM

Republic of Macedonia
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Executive President Gjorge Ivanov Prime Minister Zoran Zaev
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Early parliamentary elections were held in Macedonia on 11 December 2016,^[1] having originally been planned for 24 April and later 5 June.^[2] A re-run was held on 25 December 2016 in Tearce and Gostivar,^[3] although the outcome was unchanged in Tearce, where the ruling VMRO-DPMNE maintained a small majority of the vote.

Although VPRO-DPMNE attempted to form a coalition with BDI, coalition talks broke down in late January 2017.^[4] After that, the SDSM pursued informal coalition talks with the BDI, though as of late February 2017, coalition talks were frozen on the usage of the Albanian language.^[5]

Background

The elections were called as part of an agreement brokered by the European Union to end the protests against the government of Nikola Gruevski.^[6] The demonstrations were sparked by the wiretapping scandal involving high ranking politicians and security personnel.^[7] From 20 October 2015, a transitional government was installed including the two main parties, VMRO-DPMNE and the Social Democratic Union (SDSM). A new special prosecutor was appointed to investigate Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and government ministers. According to the Przino Agreement signed in mid-December 2015, Gruevski was required to resign as Prime Minister 120 days before the elections. Assembly speaker Trajko Veljanovski confirmed the date on 18 October.^[1]

Electoral system

Of the 123 seats in the Assembly of the Republic, 120 are elected from six 20-seat constituencies in Macedonia using closed list proportional representation, with seats allocated using the d'Hondt method. The remaining three seats are single-member constituencies elected by first-past-the-post representing Macedonians living abroad, with one for Europe and Africa, one for the Americas and one for Asia and Australia.^[8] However, the overseas seats would only be validated if voter turnout was sufficient. As it was not, the seats were not awarded.

Results

References