North Macedonia: First female candidate in presidential race

Election authorities in North Macedonia have confirmed three candidates for the April 21 presidential elections, including a law professor running as the first female candidate in the newly renamed country.

Centre-left candidate Stevo Pendarovski is facing conservative professor Gordana Siljanovska Davkova for the largely ceremonial post. Blerim Reka, representing two small ethnic Albanian parties, is also running.

Incumbent conservative President Gjorge Ivanov will serve out his second five-year term through May 12. He fiercely opposed a deal between his country’s social democrat government and neighbour Greece to change the country’s name from Macedonia to North Macedonia, ending a decades-old dispute.

On Wednesday, State Election Commission spokeswoman Ljupka Gugucevska told the AP that all three candidates had gathered the required 10,000 signatures to be eligible in the election.