North Macedonia nationalist wins first round of presidential poll
Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova of the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE, won the first round of the presidential election in North Macedonia but will face the incumbent Stevo Pendarovski in a runoff in May.
The 70-year-old law professor, candidate of the largest opposition party received 40.1 per cent of the vote after almost all of the polling stations had been counted.
The state election commission said this on Thursday in Skopje.
Pendarovski, 61, who is supported by the ruling Social Democrats (SDMS), trailed Siljanovska-Davkova with 19.9 per cent of the vote.
The president in North Macedonia primarily has protocol powers and the office is representative in nature.
Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani came in third with 13.7 per cent of the vote. He belongs to the co-governing Albanian party DUI.
As none of the candidates received at least 50 per cent of the vote, a run-off election on May 8, will decide who will hold the highest state office.
A parliamentary election is also due to take place on the same day.
The parliamentary election has far greater consequences with the tailwind of the presidential election and against the backdrop of the general mood in the country.
While, the VMRO-DPMNE, which ruled in a partly authoritarian manner from 2006 to 2016, could oust the Social Democrats from power in the election on May 8.
The European Union had opened accession negotiations with North Macedonia in July 2022. Under pressure from EU member Bulgaria, North Macedonia must mention the Bulgarian minority in the preamble to its constitution so that more substantial accession talks can begin.
However, due to opposition from the VMRO-DPMNE, a two-thirds majority has yet to be found in parliament to amend the constitution accordingly.
The pro-European and pro-Western SDSM has been in power in Macedonia since 2017, which was renamed North Macedonia in 2019.
The country joined NATO in 2020 after the government of former Prime Minister Zoran Zaev settled a name dispute with Greece.
Athens had insisted on the change because a region in northern Greece is named Macedonia.
(dpa/NAN)
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