The results of yesterday’s presidential elections in North Macedonia show that Albanians’ vote in the second round of elections on May 5 will be decisive on who will be the next president of the country.
The first presidential election under its new name where held yesterday, on April 21 in North Macedonia. 41.82 percent of the voting-eligible population turned out to vote for one of the three candidates running for office:
– Stevo Pendarovski backed by a coalition of parties led by the ruling socialist SDSM party of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev got 323,846 (44.79%) votes;
– Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova backed by opposition’s conservative party VMRO-DPMNE got 319,240 (44.15%) votes;
– Blerim Reka running as independent and backed by opposition’s Albanian parties “Alliance for Albanians” and “Besa” got 79,915 (11.05%) votes.
The close contest between Stevo Pendarovski and Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova will be decided in the second round on May 5, which will exclude the Albanian candidate Blerim Reka.
The presidential campaign was largely dominated by debates on the name deal with Greece, which resulted in the country’s name change to North Macedonia. Pendarovski and Reka supported the change, while Siljanovska-Davkova vowed to do all she can to restore the previous name.
The name deal passed the voting in Parliament with the crucial backing of opposition’s Albanian parties. The results of the first round of the presidential elections also show that it will be ethnic Albanians to decide which of the two Macedonian candidates will hold the largely ceremonial office of the country’s president.
North Macedonia is hoping to open accession negotiation with the EU and join NATO this year, after Greece removed its decade-long veto on country’s membership following the signing of the name change agreement.
