The seventh consecutive presidential election will be held in North Macedonia on Wednesday, April 24, and five presidents have sat in the seat of the head of state since the independence of the former Yugoslav republic.
The first president of Macedonia was Kiro Gligorov, who, like Đorđe Ivanov, served as president for two terms, while Boris Trajkovski and Branko Crvenkovski were in power for one term each. The current president of the Republic of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, is again in the race for the head of state.
President Kiro Gligorov received his first mandate based on the elections in the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, in accordance with the constitutional decisions of the time, and his successors were later elected in direct elections.
Macedonia’s independence was declared in a referendum on September 8, 1991, and many agree that Gligorov has a great deal to do with the fact that Macedonia left the SFRY without war. Gligorov pursued a policy of equal equidistance and cooperation towards his neighbors. In 1999, he made it clear to NATO that his country would not allow FRY to be attacked from its territory. He died in the night between January 1 and 2, 2012 in Skopje at the age of 95.
The first direct presidential elections in Macedonia were held on October 16, 1994, simultaneously with the parliamentary elections. Two candidates participated in the elections, and Kiro Gligorov won in the first round with 715,087 votes, or 78.4 percent, as a candidate of the coalition led by SDSM. His opponent, Ljubiša Georgievski, who was supported by VMRO-DPMNE, won 197,109 votes, or 21.6 percent.
The second presidential election in the independent Republic of Macedonia was held in 1999. The previous president, Kiro Gligorov, did not run in these elections, and Boris Trajkovski, the VMRO-DPMNE candidate, won. Candidates participated in the first round – Muarem Nejipi, Vasil Tupurkovski, Muhamed Halili, Tito Petkovski, Stojan Andov and Boris Trajkovski. In the second round, Boris Trajkovski won with 582,808 votes, and Tito Petkovski with 513,614 votes, i.e. 52.40 percent versus 46.18 percent.
The third presidential election in 2004 was held prematurely due to the death of President Boris Trajkovski. The first round was held on April 14, 2004, and the second on April 28, 2004. Four candidates participated in the elections – Branko Crvenkovski supported by SDSM, Saško Kedev from VMRO-DPMNE, Gzim Ostreni from DUI, Zudi Jelili from DPA. In these elections, Branko Crvenkovski won with 550,317 votes or 62.6 percent, against Saško Kedev with 329,179 votes or 37.4 percent.
The fourth presidential elections were held on March 22 and April 5, 2009, simultaneously with local self-government elections. Seven candidates participated in the elections – Đorđe Ivanov who was supported by VMRO-DPMNE, Ljubomir Frčkoski from SDSM, Imer Selmani from New Democracy, Ljube Boškoski as an independent candidate, Agron Budžaku from DUI, Nano Ružin from LDP and Miruše Hodža from DPA. In these presidential elections, Đorđe Ivanov won with 453,616 votes or 63.14 percent.
The fifth presidential election was held on April 13 and 27, 2014. Extraordinary parliamentary elections were held simultaneously with the second round of presidential elections. The second round was held on April 27 and included Đorđe Ivanov and Stevo Pendarovski. In this fifth presidential election, VMRO-DPNME candidate Đorđe Ivanov won with 534,910 votes over SDSM candidate Steve Pendarovski with 398,077 votes. Apart from Pendarovski and Ivanov, Zoran Poposki with the support of GROM and Iljaz Halimi from DPA took part in these presidential elections.
The sixth presidential election was held on April 21 and May 5, 2019, in which Stevo Pendarovski won with 435,656 votes or 53.59 percent. These were the first elections after the entry into force of the Prespa Agreement, which resolved the name dispute with Greece and the country was named the Republic of North Macedonia.
In these presidential elections, in addition to Steve Pendarovski, Gordana Šiljanovska Davkova from VMRO-DPMNE and Blerim Reka participated, with the support of the Alliance for Albanians and the BESA Movement, reminds the Republic of Skopje.
