SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia will head to a presidential runoff after no candidate secured enough votes to win outright in Wednesday’s first round of balloting held as the country seeks to enter into the European Union.
The second round of voting on May 8 will coincide with parliamentary elections. Near-full results from Wednesday's vote showed a strong shift in favor of the candidate backed by the center-right main opposition coalition, VMRO-DPMNE.
Click to Gallery
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia will head to a presidential runoff after no candidate secured enough votes to win outright in Wednesday’s first round of balloting held as the country seeks to enter into the European Union.
Hristijan Mickoski, center left, the leader of the opposition conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, raises his fist next to their presidential candidate Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, center right, during a news conference, after winning in the first round of the presidential election, in Skopje, North Macedonia, late Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Siljanovska Davkova has a big lead ahead of Stevo Pendarovski, the candidate of the Social Democrats and they both will face each other in the second round of the presidential election that will coincide with the general election on May 8. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
Stevo Pendarovski, incumbent President and a presidential candidate backed by the ruling social democrats (SDSM), right, casts his ballot in presence of his wife Elizabeta Gjorgievska, left and their son Ognen, center, at a polling station in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. People are lining up at pools to cast their votes in a peaceful atmosphere, hoping that the next president will be able to bring the country into the European Union. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, presidential candidate backed by the opposition conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, talks to the media after voting for the presidential election, in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. People are lining up at pools to cast their votes in a peaceful atmosphere, hoping that the next president will be able to bring the country into the European Union. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
A woman looks for her polling place at a polling station to vote for the presidential election, in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Around 1.8 million registered voters can cast ballots on Wednesday for one of the seven candidates who are competing for the largely ceremonial president's post in the first round of elections in North Macedonia. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
A woman casts her ballot for the presidential elections at a polling station in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. People are lining up at pools to cast their votes in a peaceful atmosphere, hoping that the next president will be able to bring the country into the European Union. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
An elderly man comes from voting booth to cast his ballot for the presidential election at a polling station in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. People are lining up at pools to cast their votes in a peaceful atmosphere, hoping that the next president will be able to bring the country into the European Union. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
Stevo Pendarovski, incumbent President and a presidential candidate backed by the ruling social democrats (SDSM), talks to media outside a polling station after voting in the presidential election in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. People are lining up at pools to cast their votes in a peaceful atmosphere, hoping that the next president will be able to bring the country into the European Union. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, presidential candidate backed by the opposition conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, exits the booth before casting her ballot for the presidential election at a polling station, in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. People are lining up at pools to cast their votes in a peaceful atmosphere, hoping that the next president will be able to bring the country into the European Union. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
An election poster of the center-right main opposition VMRO-DPMNE coalition, is displayed on a building in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Monday April 22, 2024. Voters go to the polls in North Macedonia on Wednesday April 24 for the first round of presidential elections, the seventh such election since the Balkan country gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, where seven candidates are vying for the largely ceremonial position. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
Election posters of Stevo Pendarovski, incumbent President and a presidential candidate backed by the ruling social democrats (SDSM), left and Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, a presidential candidate supported by the center-right main opposition VMRO-DPMNE coalition, center top, are pictured in a busy street in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Monday April 22, 2024. Voters go to the polls in North Macedonia on Wednesday April 24 for the first round of presidential elections, the seventh such election since the Balkan country gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, where seven candidates are vying for the largely ceremonial position. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
With about 92% of the votes counted, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova was well ahead with just under 40%. Incumbent President Stevo Pendarovski, who is seeking a second five-year term with support from the country’s governing social democrats, was second with nearly 20%, according to the State Electoral Commission.
Pendarovski was followed by a government-allied candidate from the ethnic Albanian minority, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, with 13.6%. Turnout was 49.75%.
To win outright, a candidate needed to win support from more than 50% of registered voters. So Siljanovska Davkova and Pendarovski will meet in the presidential runoff.
Hopes are high in North Macedonia that the president will oversee long-anticipated entry into the EU.
The small Balkan country has orbited the 27-nation bloc for nearly two decades with little to show for its efforts.
Addressing dozens of celebrating VMRO-DPMNE supporters outside the party headquarters in central Skopje late Wednesday, Siljanovska Davkova insisted on her pro-EU credentials.
“This is the beginning of a new era, this must be a new course, I should call it the European course,” she said. “Let us prove that we have always (belonged to) Europe.”
Pendarovski voiced disappointment with the result. But he said he hoped to do better in the second round, including with the support of the country's ethnic Albanian minority that represents about a quarter of the population.
Seven candidates were running for the largely ceremonial position, with the brief campaigning period focusing on EU accession, the rule of law, fighting corruption and reducing poverty.
Electoral commission head Aleksandar Dashtevski said earlier Wednesday that voting was going smoothly, with only a minor technical problem with biometric devices at some polling centers which was quickly resolved.
Siljanovska Davkova, 70, and Pendarovski, 61, agree that their country belongs in the EU. But they have differed on how to deal with neighboring Bulgaria's insistence on Skopje enshrining in its constitution recognition of a Bulgarian ethnic minority. EU member Bulgaria has said it will otherwise block North Macedonia's bloc membership bid.
North Macedonia has been a candidate to join the EU since 2005, but membership talks only began in 2022 and the process is expected to take years.
Voter Stavre Temelkovski said he had high expectations that North Macedonia would become a full-fledged EU member soon.
“I expect a civic movement to win, for us to be a part of all those pro-Western systems, and to start a process of healing for a state which has waited for almost three decades," he said. “Many generations are exhausted.”
Follow the AP’s coverage of global elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/global-elections/
Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, presidential candidate backed by the opposition conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, holds a news conference after winning in the first round of the presidential election, in Skopje, North Macedonia, late Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Siljanovska Davkova has a big lead ahead of Stevo Pendarovski, the candidate of the Social Democrats and they both will face each other in the second round of the presidential election that will coincide with the general election on May 8. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
Hristijan Mickoski, center left, the leader of the opposition conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, raises his fist next to their presidential candidate Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, center right, during a news conference, after winning in the first round of the presidential election, in Skopje, North Macedonia, late Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Siljanovska Davkova has a big lead ahead of Stevo Pendarovski, the candidate of the Social Democrats and they both will face each other in the second round of the presidential election that will coincide with the general election on May 8. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
Stevo Pendarovski, incumbent President and a presidential candidate backed by the ruling social democrats (SDSM), right, casts his ballot in presence of his wife Elizabeta Gjorgievska, left and their son Ognen, center, at a polling station in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. People are lining up at pools to cast their votes in a peaceful atmosphere, hoping that the next president will be able to bring the country into the European Union. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, presidential candidate backed by the opposition conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, talks to the media after voting for the presidential election, in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. People are lining up at pools to cast their votes in a peaceful atmosphere, hoping that the next president will be able to bring the country into the European Union. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
A woman looks for her polling place at a polling station to vote for the presidential election, in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Around 1.8 million registered voters can cast ballots on Wednesday for one of the seven candidates who are competing for the largely ceremonial president's post in the first round of elections in North Macedonia. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
A woman casts her ballot for the presidential elections at a polling station in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. People are lining up at pools to cast their votes in a peaceful atmosphere, hoping that the next president will be able to bring the country into the European Union. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
An elderly man comes from voting booth to cast his ballot for the presidential election at a polling station in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. People are lining up at pools to cast their votes in a peaceful atmosphere, hoping that the next president will be able to bring the country into the European Union. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
Stevo Pendarovski, incumbent President and a presidential candidate backed by the ruling social democrats (SDSM), talks to media outside a polling station after voting in the presidential election in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. People are lining up at pools to cast their votes in a peaceful atmosphere, hoping that the next president will be able to bring the country into the European Union. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, presidential candidate backed by the opposition conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, exits the booth before casting her ballot for the presidential election at a polling station, in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. People are lining up at pools to cast their votes in a peaceful atmosphere, hoping that the next president will be able to bring the country into the European Union. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
An election poster of the center-right main opposition VMRO-DPMNE coalition, is displayed on a building in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Monday April 22, 2024. Voters go to the polls in North Macedonia on Wednesday April 24 for the first round of presidential elections, the seventh such election since the Balkan country gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, where seven candidates are vying for the largely ceremonial position. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
Election posters of Stevo Pendarovski, incumbent President and a presidential candidate backed by the ruling social democrats (SDSM), left and Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, a presidential candidate supported by the center-right main opposition VMRO-DPMNE coalition, center top, are pictured in a busy street in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Monday April 22, 2024. Voters go to the polls in North Macedonia on Wednesday April 24 for the first round of presidential elections, the seventh such election since the Balkan country gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, where seven candidates are vying for the largely ceremonial position. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
