The campaign for the 2-in-1 elections in North Macedonia on 8 May will end in a few hours, BGNES reported.
The campaign for the presidential vote started immediately after the first round (24 April) and the 20-day campaign for the parliamentary elections started on 18 April.
At midnight, the electoral silence begins. It will end with the closing of polls on 8 May at 19:00 local time.
Tomorrow (7 May) the diaspora, the sick and infirm, prisoners and people in nursing homes will be able to vote.
The political parties and coalitions are ending their campaigns today. Their main message is for citizens to get out and vote in both the presidential and parliamentary elections.
"ZNAM is a democratic party and I urge citizens to vote for their candidate of choice. The priority at this moment, in order to avoid a political crisis, is the election of the president and that is why I call for the greatest possible turnout," said Maxim Dimitrievski of the ZNAM party.
It is unclear how the parties of Albanians who do not have a candidate will perform in the second round of the head of state elections. Head of state candidates Bujar Osmani and Arben Taravari together garnered around 200,000 votes in the first round.
"Citizens are free to decide who they will support in the second round and we have absolutely no intention of imposing a decision on them. This is the essence of democracy. Citizens must make an informed decision," said Bujar Osmani of the Democratic Union for Integration (UDI) and the European Front coalition.
"The wind of change is blowing, we feel it," said Iseer Majithi of the Harm Coalition, which is led by Tarawari.
VMRO-DPMNE has already declared itself the winner of the parliamentary elections after the good result of its candidate Gordana Silyanovska-Davkova in the first round of the presidential elections (24 April).
"Citizens will have a choice between a humiliated, plundered, devastated Macedonia and a proud, dignified Macedonia where the laws apply equally to all. I invite you all to come out and vote together", said Dragan Kovački of VMRO-DPMNE.
The Social Democrats, who suffered a blow on April 24, have in the past days appealed to citizens to be careful how they vote on May 8 and to remember the 11-year rule of VMRO-DPMNE.
"Every vote is precious. History has shown us that elections are won or lost by small margins but with big consequences. That is why each one of you is important for us to continue on our path towards the European Union. Let us not allow ourselves to deviate from what we have built together and carefully for seven years. Your desire for a European standard and quality of life is most important," said SDSM's Fatmir Bitici.
On Wednesday, 8 May, citizens will choose between Stevo Pendarovski and Gordana Siljanovska-Djevkova for president of the country. Seventeen coalitions and political parties will fight for 120 seats in parliament.
The elections start at 7.00 local time and end at 19.00. 3 480 polling stations will be open. The results are expected to be known at midnight at the latest. /BGNES
