Albanian vote may be decisive on second round of Northern Macedonia’s presidential elections

04/05/2019 18:00

Northern Macedonia starts the electoral silence before the second round of the presidential elections.

That first round, according to Associated Presss, saw Social Democrat candidate Stevo Pendarovski and the VMRO’s Gordana Siljanovska Davkova — the first woman to run for president in the country — tied with about 41% of the vote each.

So a lot depends on how — and indeed whether — the ethnic Albanians who make up about a quarter of the 2.1 million population will vote.

Ethnic Albanian candidate Blerim Reka garnered 10.6% in the first round, believed to represent about 70,000 minority votes. With Reka now eliminated and refusing to endorse either of Sunday’s candidates, it is unclear whether ethnic Albanians will even go to the polls.

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