The right-wing opposition won the North Macedonian parliamentary and presidential elections

Right-wing candidate Gordana Silanovska-Davkova, who is supported by the main opposition party VMRO-DPMNE (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for the National Unity of Macedonia), has won the second round of the presidential election.

She won around 65% of the vote and will be the first woman in the position of the country’s president, the state election commission informed.

The current president of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovskis, who is supported by the ruling Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), won around 29% of the vote.

Pendarovskii had defeated Silianovskii-Davkovi in ​​the second round of the presidential election five years ago.

The right-wing nationalist party VMRO-DPMNE has won the parliamentary elections, winning 43.2% of the vote and becoming the largest political force in the parliament, where it will hold 59 of the 120 seats.

The SDSM led by ex-premier Dimitaras Kovačevskis won 15.3% of the votes.

Support for the party has fallen dramatically, falling to less than half the votes it received in the previous parliamentary elections four years ago.

Kovačevski has already congratulated his political opponents on the election victory.

The election campaign was characterized by accusations of mismanagement and corruption by the opposition, directed at SDSM, which has been in power since 2017, and the ethnic Albanian party DUI (Democratic Union for Integration), which has been in government with SDSM.

VMRO-DPMNE adopted a nationalist tone during the campaign and promised a confrontational course against neighboring European Union (EU) members Greece and Bulgaria in case of election victory.

VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoskis, who is expected to become the new prime minister, has refused to recognize the country’s new name and the 2018 agreement with Greece that renamed Macedonia North Macedonia.

Resolving the old differences allowed the country to join NATO.

Mickoskis has promised to be steadfast in disagreements with Bulgaria over language and history issues, due to which Sofia has been blocking North Macedonia’s accession talks with the EU for two years.

Bulgaria has demanded that Skopje change its constitution and recognize its small Bulgarian minority.

To form a new government, VMRO-DPMNE leader Mickoski will need partners. In this regard, ethnic Albanian parties play an important role, as ethnic Albanians make up about 25% of the country’s population.

DUI, which has been in almost all ruling coalitions for the past 20 years, received more than 14% of the vote, but VMRO-DPMNE does not consider it a possible partner.

The coalition of opposition Albanian parties, VLEN, won 10.7% of the vote and is considered a possible partner of VMRO-DPMNE in the new government.