WORLD NEWS APRIL 20, 2019 / 8:15 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Macedonians pro-Western candidate wins first round of presidential vote

Kole Casule
4 MIN READ

SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonia’s pro-Western candidate, Stevo Pendarovski, narrowly won first round of presidential vote dominated by deep divisions over a change of the country’s name to North Macedonia under a deal with Greece.

The change, which Greece demanded to end what it called an implied territorial claim on its northern province also called Macedonia, resolves a decades-old dispute and opens the door to Macedonian membership of NATO and the European Union.

But the accord continues to divide Macedonians and has eclipsed all other issues during campaigning for Sunday’s election, in which about 1.8 million voters were able to chose among three candidates.

Results on the State Election Commission web site based on 74 percent of the votes counted showed Pendarovski in lead with 42.6 percent of the votes. His main rival, opposition candidate Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova came second with 41.6 percent of the votes.

The two will face a run-off on May 5, reflecting differences over the deal pushed through by the pro-Western government of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.

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