North Macedonia

Stevo Pendarovski won the presidential elections in northern Macedonia. The ruling coalition candidate received 51.66% of the votes, reported NOVA TV. 

Pendarovski faced a run-off against Gordana Silyanovska-Davkova, the opposition VMRO-DPMNE.

Pendarovski was elected by the ruling party of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev Social Democratic Union (SDSM).

Stevo Pendarovski is the new president of the Republic of North Macedonia. He defeated the candidate of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE Gordana Silyanovska-Davkova. Pendarovski was elected by the ruling party of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev Social Democratic Union (SDSM).

European Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn welcomed the election of Stevo Pendarovski as North Macedonia's new president, noting that EU accession talks for the Balkan country will begin in June.

Stevo Pendarovski, the presidential candidate backed by North Macedonia's center-left government, won the presidency Sunday in a runoff election with a conservative rival.

Stevo Pendarovski, the candidate of North Macedonia's ruling Social Democrat Union, is leading his conservative rival, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova in partial returns, the country's State Election Commission reports on their web site.

With almost 80 percent of the polling stations reporting, Pendarovski is getting 53.2 percent of the vote to Siljanovska's 43.2 percent.

North Macedonia held a competitive runoff election Sunday to choose a new president, a vote seen as a test of the center-left government's pro-West policies despite the largely ceremonial duties of the country's head of state.

Newly renamed North Macedonia heads to the polls on Sunday for runoff presidential elections. Two candidates, both university professors, are competing for the post after the third candidate was knocked in last month's first round.

Voters in newly renamed North Macedonia will choose the country's new president Sunday in tightly contested polls that could see the ethnic Albanian minority playing a major role.
Although the president has a largely ceremonial position, with some powers to veto legislation, the outcome of the vote could trigger early parliamentary elections in a deeply polarized country.

US President Donald Trump has asked the Senate to ratify North Macedonia's accession to NATO. In his letter, Trump notes that North Has been a constant partner on security policy and that it's accession would help the security interests of both the US and the NATO alliance.

Close Shave

The first round of Macedonia's presidential elections delivered a surprisingly close outcome - the ruling SDSM candidate, Stevo Pendarovski, emerged less than 1% ahead of his main challenger, Gordana Siljanovska. This was despite polls which had shown him to be up to 5% ahead.