The North Macedonian president has conceded defeat, his party is also losing in the elections

North Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski has conceded defeat in Wednesday’s second round of presidential elections, Reuters reports.

After counting more than 70 percent of the electoral districts, opposition candidate Gordana Siljanovská-Davkovová leads with 64 percent of the votes. The conservative opposition also leads in the parliamentary elections, which were also held today.

“The results are clear,” said Pendarovski, who received about 29 percent of the vote, according to preliminary results. The President then congratulated “those who won”.

His social democracy (SDSM), which has been with the government in recent years, with a gain of 12.5 percent of the vote, is significantly losing to the main opposition party VMRO-DPMNE in the parliamentary elections as well.

After counting roughly half of the precincts, the conservative party had around 37 percent preferences. According to the Balkan Insight website, the Social Democrats are only in fourth place. Two parties of the Albanian minority also got ahead of the SDSM.

In recent years, the ruling party has faced a decline in voter favor in connection with a series of corruption cases, criticism for its inability to raise the standard of living of citizens, as well as for allegedly making too many concessions to Albanians and neighboring countries on issues of Macedonian identity.

1.7 million voters could cast their vote today. According to the preliminary results, the interest in the elections has increased compared to the previous voting.

The victory of VMRO-DPMNE and Siljanovska-Davkova may have consequences for the foreign policy orientation of North Macedonia. The party and the presidential candidate both reject the constitutional changes proposed by the pro-European social democrats, which make Bulgaria a condition for the start of North Macedonia’s accession talks with the European Union.

The dispute concerns the inclusion of a reference to the Bulgarian minority in the North Macedonian constitution. Siljanovská-Davkovová spoke out in favor of her country’s membership in the EU, but only if it does not harm “Macedonian state and national interests”.

A question mark also hangs over the continuation of the compromise agreement with Greece on the name of the state, as a result of which the country changed its name to North Macedonia in 2019. Thanks to this, Athens allowed the country to join NATO. VMRO-DPMNE, under the leadership of chairman Christijan Mickoský, rejected the agreement from the opposition ranks.

Siljanovská-Davkova previously stated that as president she would use the original name Macedonia instead of the name North Macedonia.