The candidate of North Macedonia’s largest opposition party, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, scored a dominant victory in the first round of the country’s presidential election on Wednesday.
The center-right opposition candidate took 40.1 percent of the vote, while incumbent Stevo Pendarovski of the ruling socialist party got 19.9 percent.
Since no candidate won a majority, Siljanovska-Davkova and Pendarovski — the top two vote-getters — will compete in a runoff on May 8, the same day as the higher-stakes parliamentary election. If elected, she would be the first female president in the country’s history.
Siljanovska-Davkova called the result “inspiring” in her victory speech.
Pendarovski admitted that the election result was “far from what was expected” but stressed that “from tomorrow, it’s a new day and we are starting from zero.”
Seven candidates ran for the largely ceremonial office of president. Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani from the co-ruling party the Democratic Union for Integration came in third with 13.4 percent of the vote.
According to official figures, voter turnout exceeded 49 percent, eight percentage points higher than in the first round of the last presidential election in 2019.