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Citizens of North Macedonia elect parliament and head of state
A citizen of North Macedonia casts his vote in the first round of the presidential election on April 24 at a polling station in Skopje. The runoff election will take place today (archive photo). photo
© Boris Grdanoski/AP/dpa
Who will rule North Macedonia in the future? Polls suggest the nationalist opposition party could win. The nationalists are already announcing a confrontational course against two neighboring countries.
In the race for the presidency, incumbent Stevo Pendarovski (61), who is supported by the ruling Social Democrats (SDSM), came a distant second in the first round two weeks ago. Challenger Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova (70) received twice as many votes as Pendarovski as the candidate of the nationalist opposition party VMRO-DPMNE.
During the election campaign, the nationalists announced that if they won they would take a confrontational course against the neighboring countries of Greece and Bulgaria. This concerns the question of the country’s name, which Skopje changed from Macedonia to North Macedonia after an agreement with Athens in 2019, as well as minority rights. This could significantly hinder the accession negotiations that the EU opened with Skopje in July 2022. The EU member states Greece and Bulgaria have the right to veto practically every step in the negotiations.