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The first female president of North Macedonia: the Balkans first, then Brussels

2024-05-09 12:10:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

For the first time since independence in the 90s, North Macedonia elected a woman as president of the state.

University professor Gordana Silanovska-Davkova, who is supported by the right-wing opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE, won the presidential runoff on May 8 against Social Democratic League candidate Stevo Pendarovski, until now president.

In the first speech before the public, after the victory, Silanovska-Davkova said that she will be the president of all citizens, regardless of ethnic or party affiliation.

"From this moment on, I will act as the president of all citizens, all ethnic groups, all party members, those who are not in the party... because the president cannot unite the people and seek unity if she follows party lines." she said.

He called on the neighbors to support, as he said, balkanization, help each other and be real politicians.

"We must start to understand each other, help each other, not ask for a veto, but ask for support. My roads first lead to the Balkans, and, of course, Brussels is not out either," said Silanovska-Davkova.

What does "proud Macedonia" promise?

During the pre-election campaign, Silanovska-Davkova presented herself as a professor and as an independent representative in the Assembly.

In her program "Macedonia is proud again", she writes that the Prespa Agreement, which changed the name of Macedonia to North Macedonia, "is an open issue", and that she will not use the word "of the north" in her public speeches. ” in the name of the state.

She does not support changing the Constitution, but in an interview with Radio Free Europe recently, she said that if Parliament approves the constitutional amendments - which would allow Bulgarians and five other ethnic minorities to become part of the Macedonian Constitution - she would respect them.

Such changes in the Preamble of the Constitution are a condition for North Macedonia to continue negotiations for membership in the European Union.

Within a period of ten days, Silanovska-Davkova, as president, will assign the mandate for the formation of the new Government to the candidate of the party, namely the parties that have the majority in the Assembly.

Silanovska-Davkova entered the second election round as the favorite, after winning twice as many votes as the candidate supported by the Social Democratic League, Stevo Pendarovski, in the first round on April 24 - when a total of seven candidates ran.

In the runoff, Silanovska-Davkova won 363,085 votes and Pendarovski 180,499 votes.

This was a completely opposite result compared to their first election duel in 2019, when Pendarovski won.

Pendarovski's current mandate expires on May 12. Until then, the Assembly must hold the session for the inauguration of the new president.

In this case, the ceremonial session for the inauguration of the new president will be held by the deputies from the current composition of the Assembly.

The chairman of the State Election Commission, Aleksandar Dashtevski, said that this institution will try to respect all the deadlines, so that on May 12 the country will have a new president.

Five presidents and six election cycles

Since the independence of North Macedonia, the country has had a total of five presidents.

The first, Kiro Gligorov, had two mandates. For the first term, he was elected by secret ballot in the Assembly of Macedonia, on January 27, 1991. For the second term and all subsequent ones, he was elected in general and direct elections.

Gligorov won his second term in 1994 and was succeeded by Boris Trajkovski in 1999. He was president until his tragic death in a plane crash in 2004.

The third president then became the then leader of the Social-Democratic League, Branko Cervenkovski, who remained in that position for only one term.

After him, in 2009, Gjorgje Ivanov, proposed by VMRO DPMNE, won the elections and held two mandates, until 2019, when Stevo Pendarovski was elected head of state./REL