Social Democratic Union of Macedonia

Campaigning for the presidential election will halt in Macedonia ahead of Sunday, when more than 1.7 million registered voters will choose between four candidates.

Voters will choose between incumbent President Gjorge Ivanov who is running for a second five-year term for the ruling VMRO DPMNE party and three other hopefuls.

At their respective general election starting rallies at the weekend, government and opposition parties exchanged accusations on a scale not seen in the gentler presidential race that started two weeks earlier.

One week before the first round of Macedonian presidential elections, all four presidential candidate took part in an unexpected debate hosted by state television.

The hour-and-a-half debate on issues ranging from Macedonia disputed name to the economy failed to catch fire, however, and was dogged by long monologues that were deemed monotonous by many viewers and observers.

Experts say that if the opposition presidential candidate, Stevo Pendarovski, comes close to the ruling party's candidate, Gjorge Ivanov, on April 13, it will boost the opposition's chances in the subsequent general elections on April 27.

The interim report released on Thursday, covering the period March 10-26, says the presidential candidates started promoting their campaigns before the campaign's official start date - March 24.

The DIK has ruled that Ivanov broke the electoral code when he published a report on his presidential work on March 14, ten days before the start of the presidential election campaign on March 24.

Apart from starting his campaign too early, the head of the DIK, Nikola Rilkoski, said Ivanov had misused his office by using state money to finance publication of his report.

The candidate of the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party, incumbent President Gjorge Ivanov, launches his campaign with a rally in the town of Ohrid, the party’s traditional election launch venue.

Ivanov, who is competing for a secound five-year term in office, is running under the election slogan “The State Above All”, positioning himself as a proven defender of the country's interests.

The Macedonian Police Minister, Gordana Jankuloska, on Wednesday insisted her ministry was "clean" and was playing no role in management of the electoral roll.

Jankuloska’s statement came a day after the main opposition Social Democratic Party, SDSM, as well as the junior ruling party, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, disputed the accuracy of the electoral roll.

The Greek visit, taking place within the capacity of Greece’s EU presidency, is not expected to result in a breakthrough in the "name" dispute that has been poisoning relations for decades and blocking Macedonia’s EU and NATO integration.