The conservative candidate will be the first female leader of the country: she defeated the outgoing head of state, the social democrat Stevo Pendarovski, by a large margin. Parliamentary elections were also held in the state: the conservative front, the sovereignist VMRO-DPMNE party, also triumphed.
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Gordana Siljanovska Davkova will be the first female president of North Macedonia. According to the official results, the conservative candidate with 65% of the votes beat the outgoing Social Democrat president Stevo Pendarovski (29%), who admitted defeat. The country also voted in the parliamentary elections: here too the conservative front, the sovereignist VMRO-DPMNE party, won over the social democrats of the Sdsm.
Pendarovski admits defeat
“The results are clear. I congratulate the winners and wish them good work in the coming years,” Pendarovski said in Skopje, admitting defeat in the second round of the presidential elections. “My idea of a European and multi-ethnic Macedonia did not receive the support of the majority of citizens,” added the outgoing president.
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Parliamentary elections
The conservatives also won in the legislative elections, held at the same time as the second round of the presidential elections. With over 99% of the ballots scrutinized by the electoral commission, the nationalist and sovereignist party VMRO-DPMNE is at 43%, compared to 15% for the Social Democratic Party (SDSM) in government. The Albanians gathered in the DUI-European Front (pro-government) have gathered just under 14%: approximately 25% of the population in North Macedonia is ethnic Albanian and their political support in alliances and coalitions is of great importance. The other Albanian formation Vlen (in opposition) obtained 11%. Voter turnout was higher than 53% in the legislative elections and over 46% in the presidential run-off, with a quorum of at least 40% of those entitled to vote for the consultation to be valid.
Davkova: “I will be president of all citizens”
“There is no greater reform than that of the first female president,” Gordana Siljanovska Davkova said after the victory. A revenge of what happened in the last presidential elections of 2019 when the same opponents as today challenged each other in the second round, but with Pendarovski’s success. Law graduate and professor at the University of Skopje, Siljanovska Davkova, born in Ohrid (south, on the lake of the same name) will turn 71 on May 11th. A scholar and expert in legal sciences, you are the author of over 200 scientific publications on constitutional law, as well as a member of various national and international legal institutes and associations. Passionate about yoga, nature excursions, flowers, she loves dance, music and reading, and in politics she has had government experience in the past, including as minister without portfolio between 1992 and 1994. Over the years in recent years it has firmly opposed the adoption of a law in favor of the Albanian language, and is in favor of a referendum to return to the old name of “Macedonia”, which Skopje had to renounce with the agreement concluded with Greece in 2018 after decades of negotiation. The future president is also against the adoption of the constitutional changes requested by Sofia for the inclusion of the Bulgarian minority in the constitution. “I will be president of all citizens” regardless of her ethnic and religious affiliation, she told journalists, adding that she wanted to defend the national interests of her country.
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North Macedonia, Siljanovska Davkova had also won the first round
The elections
In North Macedonia the polling stations remained open on Wednesday 8 May from 7am to 7pm for double voting in the parliamentary elections and the presidential run-off. There were over 1.8 million eligible voters. The success of the conservative front, according to analysts and observers, could slow down the European path of the former Yugoslav country, already a member of NATO and which has started negotiations for accession to the EU. Stevo Pendarovski and Gordana Siljanovska Davkova had already been protagonists of the ballot in the previous Presidential elections in 2019, when Pendarovski had established himself.
The scenarios
The clear success of the conservative front, widely expected on the eve, is destined to have a significant impact on the European path of North Macedonia, already a member of NATO and which started negotiations for accession to the EU two years ago. Both the future president Siljanovska Davkova and the VMRO-DPMNE are highly critical of the agreements laboriously reached by Skopje in recent years with Greece and Bulgaria, agreements which paved the way for the Euro-Atlantic integration of the former Yugoslav country but which for conservatives and sovereignists they humiliated the Macedonian people by forcing them to make excessive concessions. Both Siljanovska Davkova and VMro-Dpmne leader Hristijan Mickoski intend to take initiatives, including a referendum, to abolish the new name of North Macedonia (imposed by the 2018 agreement with Greece) and return to that of “Macedonia”. And both oppose the constitutional changes requested by Sofia for the inclusion of the Bulgarian minority in the constitution. Changes that Bulgaria places as a condition not to further block Skopje’s path towards integration into the EU.
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