North Macedonia will hold the second round of its presidential election on May 5, since none of the three candidates have secured a majority needed to win the race, the chairman of the State Election Commission, Oliver Derkoski, said on Monday, Trend reports citing Sputnik.
"I thank all the participants of the campaign who complied with the code of fair election in the first round. I hope that the second round, which will take place and in which candidates Pendarovski and Silyanovska Davkova will face each other, will be held in a peaceful and proper atmosphere, and we will be able to state in the end, on May 5, that this election has concluded in such a way that our country deserves," Derkoski said.
He stressed that the first round of the North Macedonian presidential election had been held in a "good" and "kind" atmosphere, with no "serious" remarks from the candidates and local and foreign observers.
The final result of the first round will be announced before 7.00 p.m. local time (17:00 GMT) on Monday.
The turnout in the runoff should make at least 40 percent for the winner to become president.
The first round of the election was held on Sunday. Derkoski said at a briefing, after 96.92 percent of the ballots had been counted, that the candidate from the ruling Social Democratic Union of Macedonia party, Stevo Pendarovski, had secured 46.68 percent of the vote; while his main rival from the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, Gordana Silyanovska Davkova, had secured 42.55 percent of the vote; and Blerim Reka, the candidate from two small ethnic Albanian opposition parties, had ranked third with 10.43 percent of the vote.