2024-04-23 01:11:14
(ANSA) – BELGRADE, APRIL 22 – The electoral campaign in North Macedonia ends in the evening in view of next Wednesday’s presidential elections, the seventh since the independence of the former Yugoslav country in 1991. Tomorrow will be a day of silence and reflection, for the benefit especially the undecided, who will be able to choose between seven candidates, including the outgoing president Stevo Pendarovski, who aspires to a second five-year term at the helm of the Balkan country. Of the seven in the running, five men and two women, the challenge seems to boil down to the two main contenders – Pendarovski himself, candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDSM) in power, and Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, proposed by the conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, the main force of opposition, who are by far the favourites. It is highly unlikely that one of the candidates will assert himself in the first round by reaching 50% plus one of the votes, and it is almost a given that we will go to the run-off on 8 May – when we will also vote for the parliamentary elections – with a new duel between Pendarovski and Siljanovska Davkova, already protagonists in the run-off of the previous presidential elections in 2019, when Pendarovski emerged victorious. A latest poll conducted by the Ipis polling institute sees Siljanovska Davkova in the lead, given 24.6% of the vote, compared to the 14.4% of which Pendarovski is credited. If, as is probable, the two go to the second round in May, the support of the other competitors will be decisive, in particular those of the Albanian minority, of which there are two: Bujar Osmani, current Foreign Minister and candidate of the ‘Dui’ party, who participates in the government coalition, and Arben Taravari, mayor of Gostivar, and representative of the Albanian ‘Vredi’ formation, in the opposition. Both are given around 7% of the preferences. Approximately 25% of the population of North Macedonia is ethnic Albanian, and this minority has a place of great importance in the public and social life of the country. The other three candidates for the office of president can count on decidedly lower percentages – Maksim Dimitrievski of the ‘Znam’ formation, Biljana Vankovska of ‘Levica’ (Left) and Stevco Jakimovski, candidate of ‘Grom’ – all located between 1% and 3%. The European future of North Macedonia, the reforms for development and raising the standard of living, the improvement of relations with neighboring countries – starting with Greece and Bulgaria with which Skopje had to conclude important agreements to unlock its path of Euro-Atlantic integration – were the main themes of the electoral campaign. (HANDLE).
2024-04-23 01:11:14