Voters in North Macedonia had another chance to give an opinion on their country's new name as they cast ballots in a presidential election Sunday that was seen as a key test for the center-left government that negotiated the name change to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece.
Three university professors were vying for the largely ceremonial presidency. Outgoing President Gjorge Ivanov, who couldn't seek re-election due to term limits, tried to derail or delay the deal with Greece. North Macedonia previously was known as Macedonia.
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Voters in North Macedonia had another chance to give an opinion on their country's new name as they cast ballots in a presidential election Sunday that was seen as a key test for the center-left government that negotiated the name change to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece.
The deal emerged as the main campaign issue of Sunday's presidential. The candidate who was backed by the main conservative opposition VMRO-DPMNE party has vowed to challenge the agreement in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Blerim Reka, a presidential candidate supported by two small ethnic Albanian political parties, expressed hope that North Macedonia will "prove that is ready for the start of the accession talks with the European Union."
More than 3,000 domestic and about 420 international observers were monitoring the election.
"I expect the situation to change for us young people and also changes in the country, our living conditions to improve and to go forward toward European Union and NATO," Kocevski said.
Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, a presidential candidate for the opposition conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, talks to the media outside a polling station, after voting in the presidential elections, in Skopje, North Macedonia, Sunday, April 21, 2019. North Macedonia holds the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, seen as key test of the government following deep polarization after the country changed its name to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece over the use of the term "Macedonia". (AP PhotoBoris Grdanoski)
Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, center, a presidential candidate for the opposition conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, accompanied by her husband Blagoja and daughter Marija leaves a polling station after voting in the presidential elections, in Skopje, North Macedonia, Sunday, April 21, 2019. North Macedonia holds the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, seen as key test of the government following deep polarization after the country changed its name to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece over the use of the term "Macedonia". (AP PhotoBoris Grdanoski)
A man looks at his ballot behind a voting booth at a polling station, during the presidential elections in Skopje, North Macedonia, Sunday, April 21, 2019. North Macedonia holds the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, seen as key test of the government following deep polarization after the country changed its name to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece over the use of the term "Macedonia". (AP PhotoBoris Grdanoski)
The name change, which took effect in February, put the former Yugoslav republic on the path to membership in NATO and the European Union. Greece had blocked the move for decades, asserting sole rights to the Macedonia name.
A couple cast their ballots for the presidential election at a polling station in Skopje, North Macedonia, Sunday, April 21, 2019. Polls were opened early on Sunday in North Macedonia for presidential elections seen as key test of the government following deep polarization after the country changed its name to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece over the use of the term "Macedonia". (AP PhotoBoris Grdanoski)
The deal emerged as the main campaign issue of Sunday's presidential. The candidate who was backed by the main conservative opposition VMRO-DPMNE party has vowed to challenge the agreement in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, a vocal opponent of the name deal, said that as a constitutional law professor who is devoted to the rule of law, she would "respect" the agreement, but also "will do my best to show that some of the solutions are against Macedonia's Constitution and against...the norms of the United Nations."
Stevo Pendarovski, the joint candidate of the ruling Social Democrats and 30 other parties, told reporters after he voted in the capital of Skopje that he expects North Macedonia to become a full member of NATO and the EU. He said he is a strong supporter of the deal with Greece that "fully preserves the national interest of both countries."
Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, a presidential candidate for the opposition conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, casts her ballot for the presidential elections at a polling station in Skopje, North Macedonia, Sunday, April 21, 2019. North Macedonia holds the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, seen as key test of the government following deep polarization after the country changed its name to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece over the use of the term "Macedonia". (AP PhotoBoris Grdanoski)
Blerim Reka, a presidential candidate supported by two small ethnic Albanian political parties, expressed hope that North Macedonia will "prove that is ready for the start of the accession talks with the European Union."
More than 3,400 polling stations opened at 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) and will close at 7 p.m. (1700GMT). By 1 p.m., turnout of the country's 1.8 million registered voters was 20.45%, election authorities said. The public referendum on the name change also had low turnout.
A candidate needs 50% plus one vote to win the election outright. Heading into Sunday's vote, a May 5 runoff was seen as all but certain.
Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, a presidential candidate for the opposition conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, talks for the media outside a polling station, after voting for the presidential elections, in Skopje, North Macedonia, Sunday, April 21, 2019. North Macedonia holds the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, seen as key test of the government following deep polarization after the country changed its name to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece over the use of the term "Macedonia". (AP PhotoBoris Grdanoski)
More than 3,000 domestic and about 420 international observers were monitoring the election.
North Macedonia's struggles include a stagnant economy, more than 20% unemployment and pervasive corruption. At least 400,000 people, most of them young, have left the country in the past decade.
Some residents hope for something better. Voter Stefan Kocevski said he expects the election to bring "positivity and change."
Stevo Pendarovski, left, a presidential candidate of the ruling coalition led by the Social Democrats and his wife Elizabeth Gjorgievska cast their ballots for the presidential elections at a polling station in Skopje, North Macedonia, Sunday, April 21, 2019. North Macedonia holds the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, seen as key test of the government following deep polarization after the country changed its name to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece over the use of the term "Macedonia". (AP PhotoBoris Grdanoski)
"I expect the situation to change for us young people and also changes in the country, our living conditions to improve and to go forward toward European Union and NATO," Kocevski said.
Stevo Pendarovski, presidential candidate of the ruling coalition led by the Social Democrats, talks to the media outside a polling station after voting in the presidential election in Skopje, North Macedonia, Sunday, April 21, 2019. North Macedonia holds the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, seen as key test of the government following deep polarization after the country changed its name to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece over the use of the term "Macedonia". (AP PhotoBoris Grdanoski)
Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, a presidential candidate for the opposition conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, talks to the media outside a polling station, after voting in the presidential elections, in Skopje, North Macedonia, Sunday, April 21, 2019. North Macedonia holds the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, seen as key test of the government following deep polarization after the country changed its name to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece over the use of the term "Macedonia". (AP PhotoBoris Grdanoski)
Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, center, a presidential candidate for the opposition conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, accompanied by her husband Blagoja and daughter Marija leaves a polling station after voting in the presidential elections, in Skopje, North Macedonia, Sunday, April 21, 2019. North Macedonia holds the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, seen as key test of the government following deep polarization after the country changed its name to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece over the use of the term "Macedonia". (AP PhotoBoris Grdanoski)
A man looks at his ballot behind a voting booth at a polling station, during the presidential elections in Skopje, North Macedonia, Sunday, April 21, 2019. North Macedonia holds the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, seen as key test of the government following deep polarization after the country changed its name to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece over the use of the term "Macedonia". (AP PhotoBoris Grdanoski)
PARIS (AP) —
Reuters photographer Mohammed Salem captured this year’s prestigious World Press Photo of the Year award Thursday with a depiction of loss and sorrow in Gaza, a heartrending photo of a Palestinian woman cradling the body of her young niece. The photograph, taken in Khan Younis just days after Salem’s own child was born, shows 36-year-old Inas Abu Maamar holding five-year-old Saly, who was killed along with her mother and sister when an Israeli missile struck their home.
Salem, who is Palestinian, described this photo filed Nov. 2 last year, as a “powerful and sad moment that sums up the broader sense of what was happening in the Gaza Strip.”
The image ”truly encapsulates this sense of impact,” said global jury chair Fiona Shields, The Guardian newspaper's head of photography. “It is incredibly moving to view and at the same time an argument for peace, which is extremely powerful when peace can sometimes feel like an unlikely fantasy,” she added.
The World Press Photo jury praised the shot’s sense of care and respect and its offering of a “metaphorical and literal glimpse into unimaginable loss.”
This is not the first time Salem has been recognized for his work on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; he received a World Press Photo award more than a decade ago for another depiction of the human toll of conflict in the Gaza strip.
In the three other global categories announced Thursday, South Africa’s Lee-Ann Olwage won Photo Story of the Year for her touching series “Valim-babena,” featured in GEO magazine. The project focused on the stigmatization of dementia in Madagascar, a topic she explored through intimate portraits of “Dada Paul” and his family. Lack of public awareness surrounding dementia means that people displaying symptoms of memory loss are often stigmatized.
In the series, “Dada Paul,” who has lived with dementia for 11 years, is tenderly cared for by his daughter Fara. One of the standout images in the series shows him preparing for church with his granddaughter Odliatemix, capturing moments of normalcy and warmth amidst the challenges of dementia.
Photographer Alejandro Cegarra, a Venezuelan native who migrated to Mexico in 2017, won the Long-Term Project award for “The Two Walls,” published by The New York Times and Bloomberg. Cegarra’s project, initiated in 2018, examines a shift in Mexico’s immigration policies, which have moved from being historically open to enforcing strict regulations at its southern border. The jury said the photographer's perspective as a migrant gave it a “sensitive," human-centered perspective, according to a press release.
Julia Kochetova of Ukraine won the Open Format award for “War Is Personal.” The project stood out from coverage of the ongoing conflict by offering a personal look at the harsh realities of war. On a dedicated website, she merged traditional photojournalism with a diary-like documentary style, incorporating photography, poetry, audio clips and music.
The Associated Press won the Open Format award in the regional Africa category with the multimedia story “Adrift,” created by journalists Renata Brito and Felipe Dana. The story investigates the fate of West African migrants who attempted to reach Europe via a treacherous Atlantic route but ended up on a ghost ship discovered off Tobago. The team’s compelling use of photography, cinematography and detailed narrative, enhanced by expert design and multimedia elements, highlights the perils faced by migrants and the human stories behind global migration issues.
The Associated Press' Ebrahim Noroozi won the Asia Stories award for his series “Afghanistan on the Edge,” which documents the country since the Taliban took over in August 2021.
World Press Photo is an independent, nonprofit organization based in the Netherlands, founded in 1955.
This image provided by World Press Photo is part of a series titled Afghanistan on the Edge by Ebrahim Noroozi, Associated Press, which won the World Press Photo Asia Series category and showsAn Afghan refugee rests in the desert next to a camp near the Torkham Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in Torkham, Afghanistan, Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. A huge number of Afghans refugees entered the Torkham border to return home hours before the expiration of a Pakistani government deadline for those who are in the country illegally to leave or face deportation. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
This image provided by World Press Photo is part of a series titled Afghanistan on the Edge by Ebrahim Noroozi, Associated Press, which won the World Press Photo Asia Series category and shows : Since the chaotic Taliban takeover of Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021, an already war-devastated economy once kept alive by international donations alone is now on the verge of collapse. There isn't enough money for hospitals. The World Health Organization is warning of millions of children suffering malnutrition, and the U.N. says 97% of Afghans will soon be living below the poverty line. Three Afghan internally displaced children look with surprise at an apple that their mother brought home after begging, in a camp on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Feb 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
This image provided by World Press Photo is part of a multimedia project by Associated Press' Renata Brito and Felipe Dana titled Adrift, won the World Press Photo Africa Regional Winner Open Format category and shows a mortuary technician opening the door of a refrigerator used to store the remains of migrants recovered from inside the Mauritania boat that appeared drifting near the island of Tobago, in Scarborough, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. In May 2021 a boat from Mauritania full of dead men was found off the coast of the Caribbean Island of Tobago. Who were these men and why were they on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean? Two visual journalists sought answers, uncovering a story about migrants from West Africa who seek opportunity in Europe via an increasingly popular but treacherous Atlantic route. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
This image provided by World Press Photo is part of a multimedia project by Associated Press' Renata Brito and Felipe Dana titled Adrift, won the World Press Photo Africa Regional Winner Open Format category and shows young fishermen walk into the ocean to board an artisanal fishing boat in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021. In May 2021 a boat from Mauritania full of dead men was found off the coast of the Caribbean Island of Tobago. Who were these men and why were they on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean? Two visual journalists sought answers, uncovering a story about migrants from West Africa who seek opportunity in Europe via an increasingly popular but treacherous Atlantic route. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
This image provided by World Press Photo is part of a multimedia project by Associated Press' Renata Brito and Felipe Dana titled Adrift, won the World Press Photo Africa Regional Winner Open Format category and shows Moussa Sako, an asylum-seeker from Mali, who survived 22 days aboard a Mauritanian boat drifting in the Atlantic Ocean covers his face during an interview with the Associated Press in Guadalajara, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021. In May 2021 a boat from Mauritania full of dead men was found off the coast of the Caribbean Island of Tobago. Who were these men and why were they on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean? Two visual journalists sought answers, uncovering a story about migrants from West Africa who seek opportunity in Europe via an increasingly popular but treacherous Atlantic route. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Julia Kochetova is part of a series titled War is Personal which won the World Press Photo Open Format Award. Amidst tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and an effective stalemate that has lasted for months, there are no signs of peace on the horizon for Russia's war in Ukraine. While news media updates its audience with statistics and maps, and international attention drifts elsewhere, the photographer has created a personal website that brings together photojournalism with the personal documentary style of a diary to show the world what it is like to live with war as an everyday reality. (Julia Kochetova/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Julia Kochetova is part of a series titled War is Personal which won the World Press Photo Open Format Award and shows a stabilization point near Bakhmut, Ukraine, of the 5th assault brigade and 77th brigade. Hospitalliers battalion - volunteer battalion of combat medics are helping here. Amidst tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and an effective stalemate that has lasted for months, there are no signs of peace on the horizon for Russia's war in Ukraine. While news media updates its audience with statistics and maps, and international attention drifts elsewhere, the photographer has created a personal website that brings together photojournalism with the personal documentary style of a diary to show the world what it is like to live with war as an everyday reality. (Julia Kochetova/Der Spiegel/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Julia Kochetova is part of a series titled War is Personal which won the World Press Photo Open Format Award and shows the training of mobilized conscripts of 68th brigade in Donetsk region, not far from frontline. 68th brigade recently liberated Blagodatne village during the Ukrainian counter-offensive. The instructors came from US, working for NGO "Saber".Amidst tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and an effective stalemate that has lasted for months, there are no signs of peace on the horizon for Russia's war in Ukraine. While news media updates its audience with statistics and maps, and international attention drifts elsewhere, the photographer has created a personal website that brings together photojournalism with the personal documentary style of a diary to show the world what it is like to live with war as an everyday reality. (Julia Kochetova/Der Spiegel/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Alejandro Cegarra for The New Times/Bloomberg is part of a series titled The Two Walls which won the World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award and shows Carlos Mendoza, a Venezuelan migrant, crossing the Rio Grande river to seek asylum in the United States. Piedras Negras, Mexico, 7 October 2023. (Alejandro Cegarra/The New York Times/Bloomberg/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Alejandro Cegarra for The New Times/Bloomberg is part of a series titled The Two Walls which won the World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award and shows a migrant walking atop a freight train known as "The Beast." Migrants and asylum seekers lacking the financial resources to pay a smuggler often resort to using cargo trains to reach the United States border. This mode of transportation is very dangerous; over the years, hundreds have fallen onto the tracks and have been killed or maimed. Piedras Negras, Mexico, 8 October 2023. (Alejandro Cegarra/The New York Times/Bloomberg/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Lee-Ann Olwage for GEO is part of a series titled Valim-babena which won the World Press Photo Story of the Year Award and shows Dada Paul Rakotazandriny (91), who is living with dementia, and his granddaughter, Odliatemix Rafaraniriana (5), get ready for church on Sunday morning at his home in Antananarivo, Madagascar. 12 March 2023. (Lee-Ann Olwage/Geo/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Lee-Ann Olwage for GEO is part of a series titled Valim-babena which won the World Press Photo Story of the Year Award and shows Joeline (Fara) Rafaraniriana (41) watches her father, Dada Paul Rakotazandriny (91) clean fish at home on Sunday afternoon. A typical Sunday consists of the family attending church in the morning and spending time together in the afternoon. Fara works during the week and as the sole provider and carer for her daughter and father struggles to manage all her responsibilities in the absence of assistance by her siblings who live close by. Mandrosoa Ivato, Antananarivo, Madagascar. 12 March 2023. (Lee-Ann Olwage/Geo/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Mohammed Salem of the Reuters news agency won the World Press Photo Award of the Year and shows Palestinian woman Inas Abu Maamar, 36, embracing the body of her 5-year-old niece Saly, who was killed in an Israeli strike, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 17, 2023. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters/World Press Photo via AP)
