At stake in this election:

• 120 seats in the Assembly (Sobranie)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President President Branko CRVENKOVSKI
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Nikola GRUEVSKI
• Assembly: Macedonia has a unicameral Assembly (Sobranie) with 120 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by popular vote to serve a 5-year term.
• The Prime Minister is elected by parliament.
• In the Assembly (Sobranie) 120 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.***

*** The country is divided in 6 electoral districts,with a district magnitude of 20 members. No legal threshold is required for a party to enter the parliament. Votes are tabulated using the D'Hondt formula. At least 30 percent of the candidates on each party list must be of different gender

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Coalition: For a Better Macedonia*
  • Leader: Nikola GRUEVSKI
  • Seats won in this election: 63
  • Seats won in last election: 45
• Coalition: Sun - Coalition for Europe**
  • Leader: Vlado BUCKOVSKI
  • Seats won in this election: 27
  • Seats won in last election: 32
• Party: Democratic Union for Integration (BDI/DUI)***
  • Leader: Ali AHMETI
  • Seats won in this election: 18
  • Seats won in last election: 17
• Party: Democratic Party of Albanians (PDSh/DPA)
  • Leader: Menduh THACI
  • Seats won in this election: 11
  • Seats won in last election: 11
• Party: Party for European Future (PEI)
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this election: 1
  • Seats won in last election: 0
• Party: Party for Democratic Prosperity (PDP)
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: 0
• Party: Other
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: 0

* Coaltion led by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE) with 18 smaller parties, including the Socialist Party of Macedonia, Democratic Alliance, Democratic Renewal of Macedonia, and Party of Justice.
** Opposition coalition led by the Social Democratic Alliance for Macedonia (SDSM). Eight-party coalition includes the New Social Democratic Party (NDSP) of Tito PETKOVSKI Seats won by previous SDSM-led coalition, "Together for Macedonia," which included the Liberal Democratic Party, VMRO-Macedonia, and the Democratic Party of Serbs.
*** Seats won by coalition formed by the Democratic Union for Integration (BDI/DUI), the Party for Democratic Prosperity (PDP), and the League of Bosnians.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 2,055,266 (2008)
• Registered Voters: 1,779,116 (May 2008)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 1,030,989 (2008)

·         Is Macedonia a signatory to CEDAW: N/A

·         Has Macedonia ratified CEDAW: Yes, succesion (18 January 1994)

·         Gender Quota: Yes

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 34 (following the 2008 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 81 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Medium (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Macedonia a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Macedonia ratified CRPD: Yes (29 December 2011)

·         Population with a disability: 308,289 (est.)