Skopje, 3 November 2025 – The Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services has published the Report on Media Coverage of the First Round of the 2025 Local Elections, covering the period from 29 September to 17 October 2025.
The monitoring included 11 national television channels: MRT 1, MRT 2, the Parliamentary Channel of MRT, Alsat-M TV, Alfa TV, Kanal 5 TV, Sitel TV, Telma TV, 24 Vesti TV, Kompani 21-M TV, and Shenja TV. The analysis focused on the forms of media presentation during the election process. As regards other broadcasters, the Agency acted upon submitted complaints.
In these Local Elections, there were as many as 153 election participants, and it became evident once again that in each subsequent electoral process it becomes more and more difficult – and in certain cases impossible – to fully uphold the principles of equality and proportionality in election-related reporting. This is so because the time available in the news programmes is limited, while the technical and human capacities of even the largest television stations are insufficient to cover all candidates comprehensively.
During the election campaign for the first round of the Local Elections, no violations of the Electoral Code were detected among the broadcasters. Violations were noted only during the election silence period, by four broadcasters.
In terms of balance in daily news programmes (TV journals, newscasts), all analyzed media outlets in general reported neutrally about the election participants.
A total of ten television channels broadcast interviews with candidates participating in the election campaign. Alsat-M TV and Sitel TV aired interviews within their daily news programmes; Sitel TV additionally broadcast 13 interviews on other shows, besides the 10 election-related interviews within its news programmes. The highest number of interviews were aired by Alsat-M TV (30), Alfa TV (29), MRT 1 (28), Sitel TV (23), Telma TV (15), Shenja TV (13), and 24 Vesti TV (12).
The public broadcasting service and the national television stations that aired paid political advertising fulfilled their legal obligation to provide information in a format accessible to persons with sensory disabilities — through one edition of the news each day and one current affairs programme each week adapted for accessibility.
MRT 1, MRT 2, and the Parliamentary Channel also fulfilled their Electoral Code obligation by offering candidates the opportunity for free political presentation. The Report on Media Coverage of the First Round of the 2025 Local Elections is available on the Agency’s website at the this link.