Voters in Northern Macedonia go to the polls Wednesday for a double election — parliamentary and presidential — following a campaign in which the country's aspirations to join the European Union have played a central role. The office of prime minister wields the real power, and the president is largely ceremonial, so the parliamentary election is the more important of the two contests. The election for the unicameral parliament takes place in a single round, while the presidential election is the runoff of a two-round contest that began in April with the center-right candidate scoring a large lead over the center-left incumbent.
North Macedonian presidential candidate Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova held a big lead over incumbent Stevo Pendarovski with votes counted from 99.03% of polling stations on Thursday, but both were short of the 50% backing needed to win outright. Siljanovska-Davkova of the rightist VMRO-DPMNE had 40.08% of votes while pro-European Pendarovski, who has the support of the Social Democratic party, stood at 19.93%, the State Election Commission said.
(Bloomberg) North Macedonia’s parliament approved an interim government ahead of a May election that may further complicate the Balkan nation’s already difficult European Union accession process. Most Read from BloombergHouthi Hit on Russian Fuel Has Oil Traders Recalculating RisksSingapore’s $200,000 Toyotas Fuel Angst Over Widening Wealth GapUS Fires on Houthi Missile Hours After Trafigura Ship AttackGiuliani Lists Yankees Loot, Trump Claim as Assets in BankruptcyChinese Engineers Are Keepi