At stake in this election:

• The office of the President of Macedonia

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Gjorge IVANOV
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Nikola GRUEVSKI
• Assembly: Macedonia has a unicameral Assembly (Sobranie) with 123 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 5-year term.

Election Notes:

• If no candidate receives a majority of votes cast, a runoff will be held on April 27. Snap parliamentary elections will also be held on April 27. Although parliamentary elections were not due until 2015, the Albanian junior coalition partner Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) refused to support the ruling VMRO-DPMNE’s candidate for President, incumbent Gjorge IVANOV and the government was dissolved.

Main candidates in this presidential race:

• Gjorge IVANOV
  • Party: Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity / Внатрешна македонска револуционерна организација – Демократска партија за македонско национално единство (VMRO-DPMNE)
• Ilijaz HALIMI
  • Party: Democratic  Party of Albanians / Partia Demokratike Shqiptare (DPA)
• Stevo PENDAROVSKI
  • Party: Social Democratic Union of Macedonia / Социјалдемократски сојуз на Македонија (SDSM)
• Zoran POPOVSKI
  • Party: Citizen Option for Macedonia / Граѓанин опција за Македонија (GROM)[1]

Last election:

• The last presidential election was held on March 22, 2009 with a second round held on April 5, 2009. In the first round, Gjorge IVANOV (VMRO-DPMNE) received 343,374 votes (35.06%), short of the 50% threshold to win outright. On April 5, IVANOV faced runner-up candidate Ljubomir FRČKOSKI in a runoff election. IVANOV defeated FRČKOSKI 453,616 votes to 264,828 and was inaugurated President on May 12, 2009.

Population and Voter Registration:

• Population: 2,075,625 (2014)
• Registered Voters: 1,779,572 (2014)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 1,042,233 (2014)

·         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: No

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 34 (following the 2011 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: 313,343 (est.)