SKOPJE -- Presidential candidate Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova of the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE won a resounding victory in the first round of presidential elections in North Macedonia but could not muster enough votes to avoid a runoff, nearly complete results showed early on April 25.
With 99.03 percent of the votes counted, Siljanovska-Davkova led with 40.08 percent over incumbent Stevo Pendarovski of the Social Democratic Union (SDSM), who had 19.93 percent.
Siljanovska-Davkova, 70, whose party's complete name is the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian Unity, had been a favorite according to opinion polls, but the margin of her victory was much larger than predicted.
However, since neither candidate won the 50 percent needed to win outright, a runoff will be held in two weeks.
North Macedonia's 2.3 million people have become increasingly anxious to see their tiny Balkan country finally join the European Union, with accession to the bloc being one of the key campaign themes together with the fight against corruption and poverty.
In her first statement late on April 24, a beaming Siljanovska-Davkova said that the result marked "the beginning of a new time" called for unity in the common goal of integration into the EU.
"If we open up to each other together, if we ask for help from those from the region that are already members of the EU, I think that we will be a competitive player," she said.
Seven candidates competed in the race on April 24. Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, candidate of the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (BDI) party and the European Front, came third with 13.36 percent. Approximately one-quarter of North Macedonia's population is ethnic Albanian.
Siljanovska-Davkova and Pendarovski, 61, whose SDSM party has been in power since 2017, had faced off in the last election as well, with Pendarovski winning.
The voting process was generally peaceful, and turnout was 48.38 percent, the State Election Commission said.
The runoff, to be held on May 8, would coincide with parliamentary elections and would need turnout of at least 40 percent of the 1.8 million registered voters to be valid.
An EU candidate since 2005, Skopje opened EU membership talks only in 2022 after years of opposition from Greece and Bulgaria.
The dispute with Greece was settled in 2017 when the country agreed to change its name from Macedonia to North Macedonia, subsequently becoming a member of NATO in March 2020.
However, Bulgaria has continued to block more consistent EU membership talks with Skopje unless it amends its constitution to mention a Bulgarian minority in the preamble -- a highly contentious issue because of the overlapping histories and cultures of Bulgaria and North Macedonia.
Such a constitutional amendment would need a two-thirds majority in parliament, which so far has been not possible in the face of opposition from the VMRO-DPMNE.