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Opposition Candidate Leads Presidential Race In North Macedonia

By RFE/RL's Balkan Service April 24, 2024

SKOPJE -- Presidential candidate Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova of the main opposition VMRO-DPMNE held a big lead after the first round of presidential elections in North Macedonia, initial incomplete results showed late on April 24.

With 72 percent of the votes counted, Siljanovska-Davkova led with 39.25 percent over incumbent Stevo Pendarovski of the Social Democratic Union (SDSM), who had 19.24 percent. Both were well short of the 50 percent needed to win outright, making a runoff necessary.

Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, candidate of the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) party and the European Front, had 14.50 percent. Behind him is the candidate of the Vredi coalition, Arben Taravari, with 10.45 percent.

Seven candidates competed in the race, but the two favorites were Pendarovski and Siljanovska-Davkova, whose coalition's full name is the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian Unity.

According to a poll conducted just before the election by the Center for Political Research and Communications, Siljanovska-Davkova, who is 70, had a 3.6 point lead over the 61-year-old Pendarovski, whose SDSM has been in power since 2017.

The two faced off in the last election as well, with Pendarovski winning.

Among the other five candidates were law professor Biljana Vankovska from leftist party Levica and two ethnic Albanians, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani and Arben Taravari. Approximately a quarter of North Macedonia's population is ethnic Albanian.

The voting process was generally peaceful, and turnout was 48.38 percent, the State Election Commission (SEC) said.

The runoff, to be held in two weeks, would coincide with a parliamentary election and would need turnout of at least 40 percent of the 1.8 million registered voters to be valid.

The main topics of the campaign have been accession into the 27-member EU, the fight against corruption, consolidating the rule of law, and alleviating poverty.

North Macedonia's 2.3 million people have become increasingly anxious to see their tiny Balkan country finally join the European Union. A candidate since 2005, Skopje opened EU membership talks only in 2022 after years of opposition from Greece and Bulgaria.

The dispute with Greece was settled in 2017 when the country agreed to change its name from Macedonia to North Macedonia, subsequently becoming a member of NATO in March 2020.

However, Bulgaria has continued to block more consistent EU membership talks with Skopje unless it amends its constitution to mention a Bulgarian minority in the preamble -- a highly contentious issue because of the overlapping histories and cultures of Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

Such a constitutional amendment would need a two-thirds majority in parliament, which so far has been not possible in the face of opposition from the VMRO-DPMNE.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/north-macedonia-presidential- election-eu-membership/32918806.html

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.