At stake in this election:

• The office of President of Macedonia

Description of government structure:

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

* Since the death of President TRAJKOVSKI, parliament speaker Ljubco JORDANOVSKI has been acting as the interim president.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by popular vote to serve a 5-year term.
• The Prime Minister is appointed 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 Candidates in the Second Round of the Presidential race:

• Gjorgje IVANOV
  • Party: Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Democratic Party for Macedonian Unity / Vnatrešna makedonska revolucionerna organizacija
• Ljubomir FRCKOSKI
  • Party: Social Democratic Union of Macedonia

Main Candidates in the First Round of the Presidential Race:

• Ljube BOSKOSKI
  • Party: Independent
• Agron BUXHAKU
  • Party: Democratic Union for Integration
• Ljubomir FRCKOSKI
  • Party: Social Democratic Union of Macdenia
• Mirushe HOXHA
  • Party: Democratic Party of Albanians
• Gjorgje IVANOV
  • Party: Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity
• Nano RUZIN
  • Party: Liberal-Democratic Party
• Imer SELMANI
  • Party: New Democracy

Population and Registered Voters:

• Population: 2,058,920 (2009)
• Registered voters: 1,792,082 (2009)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 1,033,000 (2009)

·         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: 308,838 (est.)