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 Note:

• The first round of voting was held on April 13, 2014, with President Gjorge IVANOV winning an absolute majority of votes. IVANOV won 51.67 percent of the votes in the election running for the conservative VMRO-DPMNE coalition. Stevo PENDAROVSKI, candidate of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia finished second in the election, winning 37.52 percent of the vote. Although IVANOV won an absolute majority of votes, turnout for the election was less than 50 percent, meaning a run-off election will be held between IVANOV and PENDAROVSKI alongside parliamentary elections on April 27, 2014.

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)
• Stevo PENDAROVSKI
  • Party: Social Democratic Union of Macedonia / Социјалдемократски сојуз на Македонија (SDSM)

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 (April 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: Yes

·         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: 311,343 (est.)