World news agencies are reporting today on the presidential elections that are being held for the seventh time in the Republic of N. Macedonia.
The presidential voting was opened on Wednesday for almost 1.8 million citizens with the right to vote. According to the latest polls, the current President Stevo Pendarovski, who comes from the Social Democratic Union (SDSM), is clearly lagging behind Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova from the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE, reports the German agency DPA.
The agency states that under pressure from EU member state Bulgaria, the small Balkan country must mention the Bulgarian minority in the preamble of its Constitution so that more substantial accession negotiations can begin. However, due to the opposition of VMRO-DPMNE, a two-thirds majority has not yet been found in the Parliament to amend the Constitution accordingly, DPA reported.
Voters turned out today to elect a president in a litmus test for next month’s parliamentary elections in which the nationalist opposition is seeking to oust the ruling center-left Social Democrats, according to the UK’s Reuters.
