(ANSA-AFP) - SKOPJE, MAY 9 - North Macedonia appeared to be
on a collision course with its EU neighbours Greece and
Bulgaria, as the nationalist opposition swept parliamentary and
presidential elections on Wednesday. The country's right-wing
VMRO-DPMNE party earned an easy victory, with the ruling Social
Democrats (SDSM) conceding defeat before any official results
were announced. Fireworks echoed through the capital Skopje as
news of the landslide victory spread. "I congratulate our
political opponent VMRO-DPMNE with this victory in the
elections," said Dimitar Kovacevski, the former prime minister
and leader of the ruling SDSM. The announcement even came before
VMRO-DPMNE's party chief and likely incoming prime minister,
Hristijan Mickoski, had time to give his own victory speech. "We
succeeded. Macedonia won. It's a historic win for the people,"
Mickoski told supporters after the SDSM conceded. The state
election commission later reported that VMRO-DPMNE won at least
59 seats in the 120-seat parliament, with roughly 92 percent of
votes counted. The SDSM won just 19 seats, with the rest divided
among a slew of smaller parties. The nationalist party's success
will likely have a major effect on the Balkan country's dream of
joining the European Union. Mickoski has refused to acknowledge
the country's new name and a historic agreement with Greece in
2018, which added "North" to its title to settle a long-running
dispute and allowed the country to join NATO.
In the presidential run-off, which also took place on
Wednesday, VMRO-DPMNE-backed candidate Gordana
Siljanovska-Davkova was set to become the country's first woman
president, after beating long-time rival Stevo Pendarovski, the
incumbent president. "My biggest congratulations go to the
citizens," she told media at the VMRO-DPMNE party's
headquarters. (ANSA-AFP).
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