The president is elected to a maximum of two five-year terms through a direct popular vote. President Stevo Pendarovski of the SDSM won his first term in May 2019, taking 51.7 percent of the vote. Opponent Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova won 44.8 percent. Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observers deemed the election free, calm, and well administered. Observers also noted technical challenges and indications of vote buying in the second round.

The unicameral Assembly elects the prime minister, who is head of government and holds most executive power. In the July 2020 parliamentary elections, an SDSM-led coalition won a plurality of votes and then formed a coalition government with smaller left-wing and ethnic-minority parties. Zoran Zaev became prime minister but resigned after the SDSM performed poorly in the October 2021 local elections. Deputy Finance Minister Dimitar Kovačevski then became SDSM leader; he and his cabinet won formal approval in January 2022. In February 2023, the Alliance for Albanians joined the government.

Members of the 120-seat Assembly are elected by proportional representation to four-year terms.

OSCE observers deemed the July 2020 parliamentary elections generally well administered and competitive but criticized last-minute amendments to the electoral framework. An SDSM-led bloc won 35.9 percent of the vote and 46 seats, while the bloc led by the VMRO-DPMNE won 34.6 percent and 44 seats.

While the State Election Commission (DIK) presides over orderly and credible elections, electoral laws contain ambiguities and inconsistencies, many of which were introduced when authorities made changes but failed to harmonize them throughout the overall electoral framework. Inconsistent regulations cover numerous areas, including the management of the voter register, rules on candidate registration, and the resolution of disputes between different election management bodies.

OSCE observers present during the October 2021 local elections noted that a lack of permanent personnel made the DIK less efficient. The observers expressed concern about electoral-law amendments passed shortly before the elections. Voters also encountered biometric failures during the polls.

A working group was formed in May 2023 to update the electoral code and included representatives of political parties and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In December, the ruling coalition and the VMRO-DPMNE agreed that the next parliamentary election would be held in May 2024, alongside the second round of the presidential contest.

The constitution protects the right to establish and join political parties. However, competition is hindered by the existence of entrenched patronage and clientelist networks, driven by political parties. Those networks achieve private gain by adopting legislation meant to advance their interests and exerting political influence over the judiciary, among other mechanisms.

The main center-left and center-right blocs lost votes in the 2020 parliamentary elections to ethnic Albanian parties and the Levica (Left) party, which won two seats and entered the Assembly for the first time.

Independent candidates face obstacles including requirements to collect a relatively high number of signatures to secure eligibility for some races. They also struggle to gain media coverage and are disadvantaged under rules governing the distribution of state funds for paid advertising. In North Macedonia, paid campaign advertising in broadcast, print, and online media is exclusively funded by state budgets, a system that has prompted concerns about clientelism.

In 2017, power rotated from the right-wing nationalist VMRO-DPMNE—which had governed since 2006—to the left-leaning SDSM. Before taking power in 2017, the SDSM had boycotted the parliament on several occasions over electoral-fraud claims and allegations that former prime minister Nikola Gruevski had directed a vast wiretapping and surveillance program. Elections since then have featured robust competition. Opposition groups made gains during the October 2021 local elections.

Voters are largely free to make political decisions, though reports of intimidation and vote buying remain an issue, especially among Roma and other socially vulnerable groups. Patronage networks remain influential in political life and can influence political outcomes.

There are no formal barriers that prevent various segments of the population from participating in political life, but in practice, structural barriers exist for some groups. Small ethnic political parties representing Albanians have sat in each ruling coalition, and Turkish, Serbian, and Bosnian minorities are comparatively well integrated. Roma remain politically marginalized.

Despite the introduction of parity laws and joint initiatives by NGOs and electoral authorities, societal attitudes discourage women from participating in politics. Women represent 42.5 percent of the Assembly but are not well represented at the local level.

Small LGBT+ advocacy groups are politically active, but overall LGBT+ people have little political representation.

Census data released in 2022 showed a 9.2 percent population decline since the last count two decades ago, but that North Macedonia’s ethnic makeup remained mostly the same. Ethnic Albanians make up 24.3 percent of the population, remaining above the 20 percent legal threshold that grants certain official minority rights, such as the ability to make Albanian an official state language and to qualify for public-sector employment quotas. Members of the ethnic Turkish community—the country’s third-largest ethnic group—voiced concerns over the census results, saying the 3.9 percent figure was unrealistically low.

In April 2023, the government formed a working group to address the constitutional status of the country’s ethnic Bulgarian group, after Bulgaria’s government had called for changes as a condition to stop blocking North Macedonia’s European Union (EU) accession efforts. In August, the Assembly began debating measures that would name the Bulgarian ethnic group one of North Macedonia’s founding peoples. The government lacked a two-thirds majority to enshrine those changes due to VMRO-DPMNE opposition and the vote was postponed later in August. The issue remained pending at year’s end.

Elected representatives are generally able to craft and implement policy, but corruption prevents some from exercising their policymaking powers fully and freely. Sharp partisan polarization has also hampered the legislative process.

The parliament’s ability to function was affected in April 2023, when VMRO-DPMNE lawmakers, who objected to legislative amendments related to a highway-construction project, staged a walkout. Faced with a potential blockade in the parliament, the government in May adopted the amendments using an expedited procedure.

Corruption remains a significant and somewhat pervasive problem in North Macedonia. There are credible allegations indicating corruption within the judiciary, law enforcement, and other sectors.

In a screening report released in July 2023, the EC lauded the proactive State Commission for Prevention of Corruption (DKSK) but also reported that the DKSK needed more resources. The EC also noted that a related anticorruption law was not fully implemented and that anticorruption measures were particularly limited in areas including tax administration, health care, and public procurement. In May, police arrested a nurse at a cancer hospital in Skopje for allegedly stealing cancer medicine to sell on the black market. In September, police raided the hospital and the homes of two staff members as part of their subsequent investigation.

The law on open access to public information is inconsistently implemented across institutions. According to a July 2023 report from the Centre for Civil Communications (CCC), national and municipal governments made slight improvements in achieving transparency over the previous year. The CCC noted that only 65 percent of public institutions provided information within the legally stipulated 20 days, while that figure stood at 93 percent in its 2022 report. According to a survey released in July 2023 by the International Republican Institute (IRI), only 3 percent of respondents strongly agreed that their government was accountable to the public.

While certain information, like public procurement and the government budget, is promptly published in machine-readable formats, challenges with other kinds of information persist. The information on assets of public officials and political finance is published in formats that are not suitable for bulk downloads, for example.

Major government contracts are sometimes awarded in an opaque manner. There was a lack of transparency related to the construction of two highway corridors by US firm Bechtel and its joint-venture partner, Turkish firm ENKA. The government selected the winning consortium without offering an open tender, and it used expedited procedures to pass related legislation in May 2023. Three of the four companies within the winning consortium were under investigation for corruption.

Controversial amendments to the criminal code, which reduce sentences for abuse of office and involvement in a criminal enterprise, took effect in September 2023, sparking criticism from civil society, the DKSK, and the EC. Those convicted of embezzling public funds would also see reduced prison sentences under the revised code.

Score Change: The score declined from 3 to 2 due to opacity surrounding major infrastructure projects, the expedited passage of related legislation, and a law that reduced penalties for corruption-related offenses.

The media landscape is deeply polarized along political lines, and private media outlets are often tied to political or business interests that influence their content. However, several critical and independent outlets operate, mainly online. Physical attacks against journalists continue to be reported.

The constitution guarantees freedom of religion. However, Islamophobia is present in political rhetoric and in public discourse, and is directed primarily at the ethnic Albanian community and Roma.

Academic freedom is largely respected, but corruption in universities is significant. Textbooks have minimally covered postindependence events, primarily because ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians interpret the 2001 civil conflict differently.

Allegations of widespread wiretapping and monitoring of private citizens, journalists, politicians, and religious leaders by the VMRO-DPMNE government helped bring about its ouster in 2017. The SDSM-led government has since taken steps to reform the security services. The Assembly passed a law limiting the secret police’s surveillance activities in 2018. In 2019, the Directorate for Security and Counterintelligence (UBK) was replaced by the National Security Agency.

In 2021, a court of first instance found that former UBK chief Sašo Mijalkov ordered the wiretapping of over 4,000 phones without a court order between 2008 and 2015. An appeals court later overturned that ruling, prompting a retrial in 2023. In October, the Criminal Court in Skopje ended the wiretapping case against Mijalkov and several other codefendants, as a consequence of September’s criminal-code revisions.

Constitutional assembly guarantees are generally well respected, though riot police who typically monitor demonstrations sometimes use disproportionate force.

Several protests were held without incident in 2023. In September, thousands of people demonstrated in Skopje over allegations that staff members of a state cancer hospital allegedly stole medicine in order to sell it.

NGOs generally operate in a freer and safer environment under the SDSM-led government, and public institutions have become more responsive to civil society work. NGOs, particularly those that receive foreign funding, face pressure from the VMRO-DPMNE, Levica, and their supporters. Donors have reportedly become more active in supporting projects for NGOs focused on marginalized communities.

Workers may organize and bargain collectively, though trade unions lack stable financing and skilled managers. The right to strike is constitutionally guaranteed, but trade unions must inform employers of strikes in writing. Unions are susceptible to official, political-party, and business pressure.

Concerns remain about the efficacy and independence of the judiciary. The EU has stressed judicial reforms as a key priority for North Macedonia’s accession bid, while domestic experts frequently call for judicial reform. Only 1 percent of respondents to the IRI’s July 2023 survey expressed complete trust in the judiciary, while 18 percent “somewhat” trusted it. In its July screening report, the EC noted some progress in judicial reform but stressed the need to further bolster the independence of judges and prosecutors.

Due process rights remain compromised by corruption and patronage within the justice system. Political interference in the work of prosecutors remains a problem, while judicial culture remains highly corrupt. The selective application of justice also persists.

The EC’s July 2023 screening report noted that the country’s judicial backlog was slowly being reduced, though some backlogs persisted due to the retirement of judges.

The threat of physical violence is generally low. While interethnic violence does occur in North Macedonia, such incidents have lessened in recent years.

Conditions within the country’s prison system are poor and the system is slightly overcrowded. In its July 2023 screening report, the EC noted that imprisoned people have difficulty accessing health care and that violence within prisons is a serious problem.

While the SDSM-led government passed a comprehensive antidiscrimination law in 2020, societal discrimination against some groups persists. Anti-Albanian sentiment is still prevalent in some circles. The Romany population faces significant societal discrimination, particularly in education, health care, and social housing.

Laws prohibit workplace sexual harassment, but many instances go unreported. Domestic violence remains a persistent issue.

The rights of LGBT+ individuals are limited. LGBT+ people were subjected to offline and online hate speech in June 2023, ahead of the pride parade in Skopje.

Travel and movement are generally unrestricted. Corruption can hamper people’s ability to choose their place of employment or education freely.

In 2022, the European Court of Human Rights found that two primary schools in North Macedonia who had placed Romany children in segregated classes had violated the children’s right to nondiscrimination in conjunction with their right to education.

The right to own property and establish private businesses is generally respected, though corruption remains a barrier to free enterprise.

Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, as is domestic violence, which remains common; both are infrequently reported. Police are not consistently responsive to survivors. In 2021, the Assembly passed legislation to combat gender-based violence in line with the Istanbul Convention.

Child marriage persists, especially in the Romany community. According to 2018–19 data from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the most recent available, 15.5 percent of Romany women had been married or were otherwise “in union” before age 15.

A 2017 Administrative Court ruled in favor of gender affirmation in the country’s official registry (a provision that would allow transgender people to update their identification and other documents). However, the legal changes have been delayed in the parliament due to a lack of support from several political actors.

Laws do not impose rigid barriers to social mobility, though rampant corruption can effectively hamper upward income mobility. The country’s informal economy remains large, leaving many workers vulnerable to employer abuse.

The Assembly amended the labor code and minimum-wage legislation in early 2022, making Sunday a nonworking day and raising the minimum wage. The government raised the minimum wage again in early 2023, to 20,175 denar ($350) per month.

Workers in the garment industry lack protections and are vulnerable to mistreatment. A 2022 study that featured data from seven regions found that around 1,000 textile workers were being paid less than the previously guaranteed minimum wage.

Human trafficking remains a problem. In the 2023 edition of its Trafficking in Persons Report, the US State Department noted that the North Macedonian government established an operational team to identify trafficking survivors and provided more aid to NGOs assisting survivors during its reporting period. However, relatively few survivors were identified and antitrafficking funding was still insufficient. According to the 2022 edition of the US Labor Department’s Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, Romany, Balkan Egyptian, and Ashkali children are vulnerable to forced labor, including forced begging.