Ivanov favorite for Macedonian presidency
SKOPJE, Macedonia: International law professor Gjorgje Ivanov emerged as clear favorite Monday to win Macedonia's presidency, following a first-round vote praised for its lack of violence.
The success of Sunday's election had been seen as crucial for the country's NATO and European Union aspirations, after gunbattles erupted during last year's parliamentary vote.
The EU envoy to Skopje welcomed the peaceful conduct of Sunday's vote. "It seems that everything was in order. It was a calm and positive atmosphere," Erwan Fouere said.
Some 55.85 percent of Macedonia's 1.8 million voters cast ballots to choose Macedonia's fourth president since its 1991 independence from Yugoslavia, the election commission said.
With votes counted from 94 percent of polling stations Monday, Ivanov, the candidate of the governing conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, was comfortably ahead with 33.94 percent, followed by Social Democrat SDSM party candidate Ljubomir Frckoski with 19.75 percent, the commission said.
Ivanov, 49, and Frckoski, 51, will face each other in an April 5 runoff.
A total of seven candidates ran to replace President Branko Crvenkovski, who did not seek a second five-year term. The post is largely ceremonial, but can be influential in issues such as foreign policy.
Macedonia, one of Europe's poorest countries where unemployment runs at 35 percent, is anxious to strengthen ties with NATO and the European Union.
The country's people "have proved that we have capacity to conduct fair and democratic elections," Ivanov said. "We have proved that European values live in Macedonia and that this country deserves to become an equal member of the EU and NATO."
But opposition parties complained of irregularities, including voter intimidation.
The SDSM said the election had been "far from fair."
"We have had a day free of violence," SDSM election staff head Gjuner Ismail said Sunday. "But people were frightened by governing party supporters. Irregularities occurred."
The peaceful vote contrasted with last year's ballot, when fighting between rival minority ethnic Albanian parties left one person dead and several wounded. That violence was the worst since 2001, when minority ethnic Albanians fought a six-month insurgency.
Ethnic tensions persist, although the country's security situation has improved markedly since 2001.
Macedonia is also embroiled in a dispute with Greece over its name. Athens — which says the name "Macedonia" implies territorial claims on its own province of the same name — has vetoed Macedonia's bid for NATO membership until the issue is resolved.
Ivanov, a newcomer to politics backed by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, has presented himself as a unifying figure, promising to work toward NATO and EU accession. However, Gruevski's party has taken a hard line in the dispute with Greece, saying that changing the country's name would undermine its nationhood.
Frckoski advocates a compromise with Athens, saying Macedonia's priority must be joining NATO and the EU.
Results from the local elections also held Sunday showed the VMRO-DPMNE party comfortably ahead, winning 18 of the total 85 mayoral posts outright, compared with just three for the SDSM.
Herald Tribune
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Despite progress on ethnic relations, the country is still largely poor, unstable and economically hampered by a 17-year dispute with Greece. Greece objects to the name Macedonia because it is also the name of its northernmost province, and it vetoed Macedonia’s entry into NATO in 2008.