The conservative VMRO-DPMNE party in Macedonia should return to power after seven years, achieving a great victory in yesterday’s parliamentary and presidential elections, the Brussels portal Politico states in its review of the election results.
“Such an outcome is expected to further complicate North Macedonia’s long-standing ambition to join the European Union, as well as its relations with neighboring Bulgaria and Greece,” the portal assesses.
The text indicates that although they won a convincing victory, the conservatives will have to form a coalition to ensure a majority in the 120-member Parliament, because according to the initial results they have 59 deputies.
At the same time, the portal adds, the presidential candidate of VMRO-DPMNE, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, will become the first woman to hold the position of president of the state, which is mainly ceremonial.
Politico recalls that in 2018 the country reached a historic agreement, changing its name and constitution and ending a decades-long dispute with Greece, which allowed it to enter NATO in 2020.
However, the portal adds, in the last two years, Bulgaria has blocked Macedonia’s bid for the EU, demanding that its Constitution be amended “to recognize the Bulgarian minority in the country”.
“Voters in the small Balkan country with two million inhabitants expressed frustration due to corruption, the slow pace of reforms and the slow progress of North Macedonia’s candidacy for entry into the European Union,” concludes Politico in the text dedicated to yesterday’s double elections in the country.
