The “Your Macedonia” coalition led by the Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity wins and will go to 58 of the 120 seats available in the Skopje Parliament
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With 43.23 percent of the votes it is the Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE) to win the elections in North Macedonia on Wednesday 8 May. According to the results of the national electoral commission the center-right and nationalist party it obtained a majority with over 430 thousand preferences against the 15.36 percent of the centre-left, pro-European Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) leading the current government coalition. The third most voted political force was the coalition For a European Future, made up of 17 parties, stopping at 13.79 percent.
The first female president in North Macedonia
For the first time in the country, the president of the former Yugoslav country will be a woman, the conservative one Gordana Siljanovska-Davkovasupported by the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, which defeated the outgoing head of state, the Social Democrat Stevo Pendarovski, by a wide margin.
“There is no greater reform than that of the first female president,” Siljanovska-Davkova told party supporters on the night between Wednesday and Thursday on the sidelines of the vote. 71 years old next May 11thSiljanovska-Davkova is a university professor at the University of Skopje and a lawyer: before winning the 2024 elections she ran for president in 2019, losing in the run-off against Stevo Pendarovski.
The uphill road towards the EU
The success of the conservative front, widely expected on the eve of the first round won by Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, is destined to have an impact on North Macedonia’s European path. The country, already a member of the Borntwo years ago started negotiations for accession to the EU.
Both the future president and the party are highly critical of the agreements reached by Skopje in recent years Greece and Bulgaria. For conservatives and sovereignists, the agreements that paved the way for the Euro-Atlantic integration of the former Yugoslav country are considered a humiliation for the Macedonian people.
Siljanovska-Davkova and VMro-Dpmne leader Hristijan Mickoski intend to take initiatives, including a referendum, to abolish the name North Macedonia, imposed by the 2018 agreement with Greece, and return to that of Macedonia. Both also oppose the constitutional changes requested by Bulgaria to include the Bulgarian minority in the constitution. Sofia places them as a condition so as not to further block Skopje’s path towards integration into the EU.
