North Macedonia elected its first woman president Wednesday as the governing Social Democrats suffered historic losses in twin presidential and parliamentary elections.
Conservative-backed Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, a 70-year-old law professor, was declared the winner after receiving nearly 65 percent support with more than two-thirds of the vote counted in a presidential runoff.
“Is there a bigger change than electing a woman as president?” Siljanovska-Davkova told party supporters. “I will stand with women in taking this great step forward, a step towards reform.”
#BREAKING #NorthMacedonia Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, supported by the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, has won the presidential elections in North Macedonia.
With over 50% of the ballots counted, Siljanovska-Davkova secured 64% of the vote. pic.twitter.com/h2hfQylMEL
— The National Independent (@NationalIndNews) May 8, 2024
Incumbent Stevo Pendarovski conceded after garnering just over 29 percent of the vote.
North Macedonia president supported by conservative VMRO-DPMNE
Siljanovska-Davkova was backed by the conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, which made sweeping gains on popular discontent over the country’s slow path toward European Union membership and its sluggish economy.
A coalition led by VMRO-DPMNE was ahead with nearly 43 percent in the parliamentary election, while the Social Democrat-led coalition that has held power for the last seven years struggled to hold onto second place with 14.8 percent – just ahead of a group of parties led by the ethnic Albanian minority party DUI.
Celebrations in the capital Skopje were muted by a thunderstorm that caused power outages.
The conservative landslide win will be followed by power-sharing talks for the control of the 120-seat parliament. But Social Democrat leader Dimitar Kovachevski, who served as prime minister from 2022 until early this year, conceded his party’s defeat late Wednesday in the parliamentary election and announced that he would stand down after a new leader is selected by the party.
Ceremonial role of the President
Victory for Siljanovska-Davkova makes her the first woman to hold the largely ceremonial post of president since the country gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
The month-long campaign focused on North Macedonia’s slow progress toward joining the 27-nation EU, the rule of law, corruption, fighting poverty and tackling the country’s flat economic growth.
VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski headed a 22-party coalition called Your Macedonia that accused opponents of ineptitude and making humiliating compromises in trying to settle disputes with North Macedonia’s neighbors. Mickoski, 46, told supporters that the incoming conservative-led government would make fighting corruption its priority.
“Every last person who committed a crime and committed corruption will be held accountable,” he said. “The people have taught the government its most important lesson and saved their country … We have regained hope and tonight we have reason to celebrate.”
NATO member North Macedonia has been a candidate to join the EU since 2005, but was blocked by successive disputes with neighbors Greece and Bulgaria as well as slow progress on some reforms required for membership to advance.
Related: Greece Wants to Be North Macedonia’s ‘Closest Ally and Best Friend’