Critical day for EU path: North Macedonia to hold parliamentary, presidential elections

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) – North Macedonia is all set to hold parliamentary elections and a presidential runoff on Wednesday.

Some 1.8 million registered voters will be able to cast their ballots from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (0600-1800 GMT) to elect 120 members for a four-year term in the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, the country’s unicameral parliament. Three more seats are reserved for expatriates.

They will also choose either Stevo Pendarovski or Gordana Siljanovska Davkova as the next president.

Siljanovska Davkova had an impressive run in the first round on April 24, finishing with over 41% of the vote, double the tally of incumbent President Pendarovski, who was at 20.5%.

That marked a significant shift in support for Siljanovska Davkova, who is backed by the opposition conservative VMRO-DPMNE coalition and will become the country’s first female president if she prevails in the second round.

It leaves Pendarovski and the ruling left-wing Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM) heading into Wednesday’s vote on the backfoot.

Turnout in the first round was just over 49%, well above the first phase of the 2019 presidential election. In the second round, turnout must be at least 40% for the result to be valid.

- Main contenders

The post of president is largely ceremonial in the country, so more attention is on the parliamentary battle, which could prove critical in how North Macedonia proceeds with regards to its EU membership, pending since 2005.

The SDSM is leading a 14-party coalition called For a European Future, challenged by the Your Macedonia alliance, which has 22 parties and is led by the VMRO-DPMNE.

Siljanovska Davkova and the opposition coalition are widely expected to win Wednesday’s contests.

Smaller parties, however, are also expected to gain a foothold and influence the formation of the next government, and potentially its policies.

A major player could be the For Our Macedonia party, or ZNAM, after its leader Maksim Dimitrievski put up an impressive showing in the first round of the presidential election, finishing with 9.5% of the vote.

To represent Albanians, the country’s largest minority who make up more than a quarter of the population of over 2 million, there are two coalitions in the running – European Front and VLEN.

European Front, which includes nine parties, is led by the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), the largest Albanian party in the country.

- EU course

Over the past two decades, a major hurdle to North Macedonia’s EU bid was a dispute with Greece over its name, which led to it being officially changed from Macedonia to North Macedonia in 2018.

That, however, has only allowed North Macedonia to complete its membership to NATO.

The holdup to its EU membership now is from neighboring Bulgaria, which has blocked its accession process for two years, pressing Skopje to give constitutional recognition to its Bulgarian minority.

That has been a key issue in the campaigns of both current presidential hopefuls and their coalitions.

Both sides support the idea, but there are certain differences in their approach that could prove critical for the country’s European path.

They have stressed that any constitutional change to recognize the Bulgarian minority should only happen once the EU officially takes in North Macedonia.

Pendarovski and the SDSM-led alliance have vowed to see through the EU accession, citing their success in getting North Macedonia into NATO.