North Macedonia nationalist rides high in first round of presidential election

7 months ago 29

North Macedonia’s nationalist candidate Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova claimed victory in the first round of presidential elections on Wednesday (24 April) — the first in a series of votes that could decide whether the Balkan country will join the European Union.

According to the state electoral commission, with 90% of votes counted, Siljanovska-Davkova who is supported by the main opposition party VMRO-DPMNE had romped to victory with almost 40%.

That put her way ahead of President Stevo Pendarovski of the ruling centre-left Social Democrats (SDSM), who claimed close to 20% of the votes.

The two will face off in the second round run-off on 8 May but the outlook is bleak for Pendarovski.

There will also be a parliamentary poll that same day.

Turnout was over 49%, according to the electoral commission, some eight points higher than the first round of the presidential elections in 2019.

About 1.8 million people — including a large diaspora — were eligible to vote, while more than 810,000 cast their ballots at 3,480 polling stations around the country.

The vote for the largely ceremonial presidency is widely seen as a litmus test for a parliamentary election next month in which the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE is seeking to unseat the ruling pro-European and centre-left Social Democrats.

“It is clear that this result is incredibly inspirational for me,” Siljanovska-Davkova, told reporters on Wednesday evening.

“I only know that what I promise I will implement in my own way. This is a beginning of a new era.”

Pendarovski admitted he was surprised by the wide gap.

“We expected less (difference), but tomorrow is a new day. We are starting from the beginning,” Pendarovski told reporters.

“My assignment is to promote the concept I believe in: a state that is not isolated and that is integrated in Europe.”

The elections came amid a two-year standoff between the government and the opposition over how to deal with neighbouring Bulgaria blocking its path to EU membership.

Relations between Sofia and Skopje have been strained for years by bitter disputes over the two country’s similar languages and history.

In 2022, Bulgaria agreed to a proposal by the then French Presidency of the Council of the EU to lift its veto on Skopje’s starting accession negotiations when North Macedonia adds the Bulgarian minority into the country’s constitution.

Pendarovski and the SDSM are prepared to make the amendments but lack the numbers to win a parliamentary vote.

The VMRO-DPMNE party says constitutional changes can only come after North Macedonia joins the EU, a stance the government says is unrealistic.

Old rivals

Long-time political rivals Pendarovski and Siljanovska-Davkova, who also faced off in the last presidential election in 2019, led a crowded field of seven candidates.

Pendarovski and the SDSM vowed to unlock the stalled talks with the EU and shepherd the constitutional changes through parliament.

Siljanovska-Davkova and the VMRO-DPMNE said North Macedonia — which had to change its name in 2018 from Macedonia to settle a separate long-running dispute with Greece — will not be pushed around on the issue.

The message appeared to resonate with many who are looking for a change.

“From these elections I expect total change of the government and finally the interests of Macedonia to be protected,” Filip Zdraveski, 38, told AFP after voting in the capital Skopje.

Wednesday’s vote was closely watched as a barometer for the parliamentary elections, analyst Ana Petruseva, head of the North Macedonia branch of regional investigative reporting outlet BIRN, told AFP.

The support of the five other candidates may be vital for the runoff, Petruseva added.

The five include Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, supported by the ethnic Albanian DUI party — a partner in the ruling coalition who won 13% — and Arben Taravari of the opposition ethnic Albanian coalition, with over nine percent of the votes.

The DUI has offered its backing in the second round on condition that future presidents be elected by MPs, which it hopes would one day lead to an ethnic Albanian holding the office.

Albanians make up more than a quarter of the country’s population of 1.8 million.

Pendarovski and Siljanovska-Davkova have dismissed the idea, saying it is more democratic for the head of state to be selected through a direct vote.

In 2001, NATO alliance pulled North Macedonia, then called “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” back from the brink of civil war during an ethnic Albanian insurgency, and the country was promised faster integration into both the EU and NATO. It joined NATO in 2020.