North Macedonia To Hold 2nd Round Of Presidential Election On May 5

Stevo Pendarovski, the joint candidate of North Macedonia's ruling Social Democrats and 30 other parties, and Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, backed by the main opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, will face each other in the presidential runoff on May 5

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd April, 2019) Stevo Pendarovski, the joint candidate of North Macedonia's ruling Social Democrats and 30 other parties, and Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, backed by the main opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, will face each other in the presidential runoff on May 5.

The first round of the presidential election was held in North Macedonia on Sunday. According to the state electoral commission, with about 97 percent of the ballots counted, Pendarovski held a slight edge over his opponents, receiving 42.68 percent, Siljanovska Davkova had 42.55 percent, and Blerim Reka, a candidate supported by two small ethnic Albanian political parties, got 10.43 percent.

Voter turnout in the first round stood at 41.92 percent.

North Macedonia's election law requires a candidate to get 50 percent plus one of registered voters to be elected in the first round of the election.

Commenting on the outcome, election commission head Oliver Derkoski said the election was held in "a good, friendly atmosphere," and without criticism from the presidential candidates and local and foreign observers.

"I would like to thank all the participants of the campaign who complied with the code of fair election in the first round, and I hope that the upcoming second round, which will feature candidates Pendarovski and Siljanovska Davkova, will be held in a peaceful atmosphere, and we will be able to state in the end, on May 5, that this election has concluded in a way that our country deserves," Derkoski said.

NO SERIOUS IRREGULARITIES RECORDED DURING ELECTIONS

According to North Macedonia's Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski, no serious incidents were recorded during the voting on Sunday. The only noticeable exception was a drunk man damaging a ballot box in Novatsi village, and a person campaigning near a polling place in Kuchichino village, the Interior Ministry said.

The vote comes a few months after a deal between Athens and Skopje on Macedonia's name change came into force, opening the door to Macedonian membership of the European Union and NATO. Yet, many Macedonians, as well as President Gjorge Ivanov, spoke against the name deal.

Asked what she would do with the Athens-Skopje agreement if elected, Siljanovska Davkova stressed the need to comply with the constitutional law.

"I am committed to the rule of law, and I will do everything I can to show that some of the decisions are not only against the Constitution and constitutional law, but also against 'jus cogens,' the peremptory norms of the UN Charter," she said as quoted by the Media Information Agency of North Macedonia.

Last year, Macedonia held a referendum on changing its name to North Macedonia but it fell short of the turnout required. The vote aimed to end a longstanding dispute with Greece, which has its own region called Macedonia.