Local elections were held on October 15 and 29, 2017, in the Republic of Macedonia to elect mayors and members of municipality councils of the 80 municipalities in Macedonia. These were the sixth local elections since the independence of Macedonia.

The local elections were held as scheduled, on October 15, 2017. Only 45 municipalities elected a mayor in the first round, and 35 had to vote again on October 29. Before both of the first two rounds, voting was held a day early (October 14 and 28) for hospitalized and disadvantaged persons, and those in home detention or prison. A re-vote was held on November 12 in the municipality of Čair only.

Background The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) formed a ruling coalition with the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) in 2017. The Macedonian Assembly determined October 15 as the date of the elections on June 1, 2017. On August 6, Macedonian Assembly Speaker Talat Xhaferi announced that local elections would be held on October 15, 2017. 

On September 27, Alit Abazi, an independent candidate for the council of Kičevo Municipality, was shot in public in Kičevo with a pistol. His chief electoral officer was wounded. Abazi succumbed to his wounds on October 5. The  investigating authorities stated that there was not a political motivation and rejected relation of this event with the electoral process. Elvis Bajram, a candidate for mayor in Šuto Orizari Municipality, was attacked with axes and metal rods during a meeting with council candidates in Šuto Orizari. His father alleged that he was attacked by supporters of SDSM. The incident was condemned by SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE. 

The campaign for the first round lasted from September 25 to October 13, while the campaign for the second round lasted from October 15 to October 27. VMRO-DPMNE candidates focused on national issues during the campaign. Like in the previous elections, VMRO-DPMNE did not participate in debates, arguing that receiving criticism for not appearing on TV was less harmful than being criticized live for its wrongdoings. The coalition led by SDSM openly supported DUI's candidates in municipalities, such as Čair, Tetovo, and Struga, and the municipalities of Aračinovo and Šuto Orizari with predominantly Albanian and Romani people. DUI also called its members and supporters in Skopje and Kumanovo to vote for SDSM's candidates. VMRO-DPMNE also promote itself in both Macedonian and Albanian in municipalities with mixed ethnicities. The Alliance for Albanians' (AA) campaign was ethnic-based. 

There were 224 mayoral candidates for 80 municipalities and the City of Skopje, along with 373 candidate lists for councilors. Hospitalized and disadvantaged persons, as well as those in home detention or prison, voted a day before both rounds.

Results

In the first round, SDSM won 37 out of 80 municipalities and had a lead in 13, while VMRO-DPMNE lost control of 56 municipalities and won in only three rural areas. VMRO-DPMNE had a slight lead in six municipalities. DUI won in only two municipalities and had a lead in 10 municipalities. Before the second round, the AA announced its alliance with Besa, while SDSM remained in alliance with DUI. The second round took place on October 29.

In both rounds, the largest number of mayoral seats was won by SDSM, consisting of 57 municipalities and the City of Skopje. VMRO-DPMNE won 5 mayoral seats, DUI - 9, AA - 3, and Besa, DPA, and DPT won one mayoral seat each, while three mayoral seats were won by independent candidates. Compared with the 2013 local elections, SDSM passed from ruling 4 municipalities to 57, while VMRO-DPMNE was reduced from 56 municipalities to only 5. Only 6 women were elected as mayors. In these elections, VMRO-DPMNE had one of its worst results in the country's electoral history.

With the re-vote on November 12, DUI won another mayoral seat in Čair. SDSM won 422,522 votes (39.1%) for members of the municipal councils, VMRO-DPMNE - 335,769 votes (31%), DUI - 89,724 votes (8.3%), AA - 49,125 (4.5%), Besa - 46,493 (4.3%), DPA - 16,865 (1.56%), DPT - 10,239 (0.9%) and NDM - 4,506 (0.4%) votes. As a result, SDSM won 552 councilor seats in total, VMRO-DPMNE - 432, DUI - 127, Besa - 63, AA - 63, DPA - 23, DPT - 17, NDM and SRM 7 councilors each. In the City of Skopje, SDSM won 122,711 votes (43.7%, VMRO-DPMNE - 96,922 votes (34.5%), DUI -17,000 (6.1%), Besa - 13,882 (4.9%), AA - 6,972 (2.4%), The Left - 5,922 (2.1%). In the first round, the total voter turnout was 1,079,876 out of 1,814,664 registered voters, 59.51%. In the second round, the turnout declined to 51.92%. Compared to the previous local elections, the turnout was significantly lower (66.81% in the first and 64.9% in the second round).

MunicipalityCandidateParty%Round won inAerodromZlatko MarinSocial Democratic Union52.03%First roundAračinovoMilikije HalimiSocial Democratic Union57.81%First roundBerovoZvonko PekevskiSocial Democratic Union60.96%First roundBitolaNataša PetrovskaSocial Democratic Union59.77%First roundBogdanciBlaže ŠapovSocial Democratic Union55.37%First roundBogovinjeAljbon DžemailiAlliance for Albanians53.70%Second roundBosilovoZoran ZimbakovSocial Democratic Union53.80%First roundBrvenicaEnver PajazitiIndependent55.38%Second roundButelVelimir SmilevskiSocial Democratic Union57.02%Second roundValandovoPero KostadinovSocial Democratic Union55.31%First roundVasilevoMarjan JanevSocial Democratic Union52.52%First roundVevčaniSašo JankoskiSocial Democratic Union53.15%First roundVelesAce KocevskiSocial Democratic Union53.51%First roundVinicaIvica DimitrovSocial Democratic Union52.23%Second roundVrapčišteIsen ShabaniAlliance for Albanians51.25%Second roundGazi BabaBoris GeorgievskiSocial Democratic Union53.57%Second roundGevgelijaSašo PockovSocial Democratic Union54.55%First roundGjorče PetrovAleksandar NaumoskiSocial Democratic Union53.75%First roundGostivarArben TaravariAlliance for Albanians50.12%Second roundGradskoRobert BešovskiSocial Democratic Union53.51%Second roundDebarRuždi LjataDemocratic Union for Integration52.04%Second roundDebarcaZoran NogačeskiSocial Democratic Union56.70%First roundDelčevoGoran TrajkovskiSocial Democratic Union51.83%First roundDemir KapijaLazar PetrovSocial Democratic Union56.12%Second roundDemir HisarMarjanče StojanovskiSocial Democratic Union55.43%First roundDojranAngo AngovSocial Democratic Union58.19%First roundDolneniDžemil KjamiliDemocratic Union for Integration53.90%Second roundŽelinoBljerim SejdiBesa Movement51.27%Second roundZelenikovoBorče GievskiSocial Democratic Union59.22%First roundZrnovciBlaže StankovVMRO-DPMNE57.11%Second roundIlindenŽika StojanovskiVMRO-DPMNE57.34%First roundJegunovceDarko BlažeskiSocial Democratic Union61.79%Second roundKavadarciMitko JančevVMRO-DPMNE52.65%Second roundKarbinciJordan NasevSocial Democratic Union56.94%Second roundKarpošStefan BogoevSocial Democratic Union57.70%First roundKisela VodaFilip TemelkovskiSocial Democratic Union54.89%Second roundKičevoFatmir DehariDemocratic Union for Integration60.36%First roundKončeBlagoj IlievSocial Democratic Union55.23%First roundKočaniNikolčo IlijevSocial Democratic Union55.80%First roundKratovoLjupčo BojadžievSocial Democratic Union57.11%First roundKriva PalankaBorjančo MicevskiSocial Democratic Union57.97%First roundKrivogaštaniRubinčo ŠefteroskiSocial Democratic Union53.90%First roundKruševoTome HristoskiSocial Democratic Union60.63%First roundKumanovoMaksim DimitrievskiSocial Democratic Union52.53%First roundLipkovoErkan ArifiDemocratic Union for Integration58.55%Second roundLozovoAco VelkovskiSocial Democratic Union55.18%First roundMavrovo and RostušaMedat KurtovskiSocial Democratic Union55.85%First roundMakedonska KamenicaSonja StamenkovaSocial Democratic Union54.24%Second roundMakedonski BrodŽivko SiljanoskiSocial Democratic Union66.46%Second roundMogilaJasmina GulevskaSocial Democratic Union51.22%Second roundNegotinoToni DelkovSocial Democratic Union51.44%First roundNovaciLjube KuzmanoskiSocial Democratic Union53.00%Second roundNovo SeloBoro StojčevSocial Democratic Union52.13%First roundOhridJovan StojanoskiSocial Democratic Union54.07%First roundPetrovecBorče MitevskiVMRO-DPMNE62.05%First roundPehčevoDragan TrenčovskiSocial Democratic Union52.65%First roundPlasnicaIsmail JahoskiDemocratic Union for Integration59.12%First roundPrilepIlija JovanoskiSocial Democratic Union51.07%First roundProbištipDragan AnastasovSocial Democratic Union52.27%Second roundRadovišGerasim KonzulovSocial Democratic Union50.13%First roundRankovceIvica ToševskiIndependent58.27%First roundResenŽivko GošarevskiSocial Democratic Union55.03%First roundRosomanBranko JanevSocial Democratic Union54.23%Second roundSarajBlerim BedžetiDemocratic Union for Integration52.26%Second roundSveti NikoleSašo VelkovskiSocial Democratic Union50.17%First roundSkopjePetre ŠilegovSocial Democratic Union50.33%First roundSopišteStefče TrpkovskiVMRO-DPMNE50.78%First roundStaro NagoričaneŽaklina JovanovskaSocial Democratic Union65.36%Second roundStrugaRamis MerkoDemocratic Union for Integration49.53%Second roundStrumicaKosta JanevskiSocial Democratic Union59.45%First roundStudeničaniAzem SadikiDemocratic Party of Albanians52.17%Second roundTearceIsen AsaniDemocratic Union for Integration51.64%Second roundTetovoTeuta ArifiDemocratic Union for Integration49.09%Second roundCentarSaša BogdanovikjSocial Democratic Union63.47%First roundCentar ŽupaArijan IbraimDemocratic Party of Turks70.48%First roundČairVisar GaniuDemocratic Union for Integration48.66%Second roundČaškaGoran StojanovskiSocial Democratic Union69.58%Second roundČešinovo-ObleševoGorančo KrstevSocial Democratic Union49.91%Second roundČučer-SandevoJovan PejkovskiIndependent51.40%First roundŠtipBlagoj BočvarskiSocial Democratic Union51.54%Second roundŠuto OrizariKurto DudušSocial Democratic Union57.61%Second round

Incidents and reactions After the first round, OSCE stated: Following the second round, it stated: "The second round of mayoral elections in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia were competitive and respect for fundamental freedoms contributed towards conduct of democratic elections."

A voter in Gjorče Petrov was arrested on October 15 for photographing the ballot, which caused a break in voting for five minutes. During the voting, the police said it received 46 reports about attempted voter bribery, chain voting and other attempts of obstructions. They said they arrested 10 people due to these reports. An NGO activist from Struga, who commented about AA and Ziadin Sela on social media, was threatened with death and beaten, if he did not cease his activity. In the first round, there were ten photographing incidents. In the second round, there were photographing incidents in Šuto Orizari, Crniče and Probištip. People were also arrested for participating in physical showdowns in Šuto Orizari and Butel. Polling stations were briefly closed until the situations were sorted out.