North Macedonia: With a double score, Seljanovska won in the first round

A comfortable victory for the candidate of the right-wing opposition party VMRO-DPMNE. Jordana Silianowska In the first round of presidential elections in North Macedonia yesterday.

Selianowska won by twice the percentage of her main rival, Candidate of the ruling Social Democratic Party (SDSM) The outgoing President of North Macedonia, Stevo Pentarovski.

According to the results announced by the country's National Elections Commission. After 92% of the votes were counted Jordana Silianowska He collects 40%, while Stevo Pendarovski receives only 20% of the votes.

In third place comes the candidate of the Albanian co-ruling party and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia Ottoman boyar (13.6%) The fourth is the candidate of the coalition of four Albanian opposition parties, Arben Taravari (9.6%).

Candidates for the second round

Seven candidates participated in the first round of the presidential elections. In order for the President of the Republic of North Macedonia to be elected in the first round, more than 50% of the total electorate in the country must be secured, which was considered completely unlikely from the beginning. Therefore, a second round will be held between the winners of the first round.

The second round, in which 70-year-old Jordana Seljanovska and 60-year-old Stevo Pendarovski will take part, is scheduled to take place in two weeks (May 8) – at the same time as the parliamentary elections.

In her remarks late last night, Jordana Silianowska spoke of an “excellent result.”

“I am proud of the citizens, not only of those who voted for me, but also of the rest, and I am especially proud of the members of VMRO-DPMNE and their support,” Ms. Seljanovska noted.

Stevo Pendarovski admitted that the result was not what he wanted, but added that he would try to achieve the surprise in the second round.

VMRO-DPMNE leader Christian Mykowski spoke of a “political tsunami” in the country and expressed confidence that Gordana Selianowska would be the new president, while his party would achieve a “huge” victory in the parliamentary elections and form the next government.

SDSM leader Dimitar Kovacevski admitted that the result of yesterday's elections was not what his party expected. Mr. Kovacevski estimated that voters punished the ruling faction for its mistakes and failures, while seeing the result as “at the same time a blow to the European perspective of the country.”

Political analysts in Skopje comment that the highlight of the first round of the presidential elections was the margin of victory of VMRO-DPMNE candidate Seljanovska, which exceeded even the most optimistic expectations of the main opposition faction itself and is almost impossible to overturn in the second round of elections.

They also appreciate that the result of yesterday's elections sends a message of “denunciation” to the ruling Social Democratic Party, which, after Zoran Zaev's departure from its leadership, is in a state of decline. They added that in the parliamentary elections scheduled for May 8, the SDSM risks a crushing defeat.