Macedonians vote for president in test for ruling party

Macedonia's President Gjorge Ivanov speaks to the media in front of a polling station in Skopje yesterday.

AFP/Skopje

Macedonians held presidential polls yesterday in a key test for the ruling party as it seeks to steer the Balkan country towards EU and Nato membership and resolve a long-running dispute over its name.

The vote for the largely ceremonial post is seen as a bellwether for the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party's prospects in early general elections later this month.

Incumbent President Gjorge Ivanov is bidding for a second five-year term, saying he will push ahead with efforts to integrate Macedonia into the European Union and Nato - seen as crucial to addressing the ailing economy in which monthly salaries average just 350 euros ($480) and a quarter of the population is out of work.

"We will keep on working on our strategic goals," Ivanov said.

The last opinion polls put him comfortably ahead of his three challengers, with around 30% support.

His main rival, Stevo Pendarovski, who was lagging at 16% in the last polls, had tried to shift the focus of campaigning towards a row with neighbouring Greece over Macedonia's name.

Greece has a northern province also called Macedonia, and the two countries have been at loggerheads over the right to the use of the name ever since the former Yugoslav republic proclaimed independence in 1991.

The Macedonia opposition says the issue is hampering economic and political development in the country, an EU candidate since 2005.

Athens worries it could imply a claim on its territory, and the Greeks also accuse Skopje of trying to usurp the heritage of the ancient Macedonians and stake a claim to the heritage of Alexander the Great.

The row has stymied Macedonia's efforts to join both Nato and the EU. Attempts by the UN to mediate the dispute has so far been fruitless.

The opposition forced the early parliamentary elections on April 27, accusing the ruling party of failing to pass necessary reforms.

Although growth is expected to reach 3.0% this year, Macedonia was hit hard by the economic crisis in neighbouring Greece, leaving many voters disillusioned with the political class.

"I am sick of all of them, who just give us empty promises, while only worrying about protecting their jobs," said 62-year old pensioner Ibrahim Veli.

Others, such as 28-year-old nurse Ljubica Ilieva, still have faith in Ivanov. "He is calm and clear on what we can expect. Other candidates are new and we are not sure what they offer," Ilieva said.

The leader of the VMRO-DPMNE, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, who has been in power since 2011, is expected to return to power later this month.

The most recent survey had the party winning 59 of the 123 seats in the Macedonian parliament, with the opposition clinching 36 seats.

The party shares power with the Democratic Union for Integration, which represents the ethnic Albanians who make up some 25% of the population.

Relations between Macedonians and ethnic Albanians have been strained since the end of a seven-month conflict in 2001 that pitted the country's armed forces against ethnic Albanian rebels.

At least 40% of voters must cast their ballots in order for the presidential polls to be valid.

Electoral officials said 41.2% of some 1.7mn eligible voters had cast their ballots by 1600 GMT, an hour before the polls were to close.

If no candidate wins more than 50% of the votes cast in yesterday's first round, the two top rivals will go head-to-head in a run-off on April 27, when the parliamentary elections will also be held.