Presidential candidate Gjorge Ivanov wins election in Macedonia

by Yuliya Talmazan | April 6, 2009 at 09:48 am

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Conservative Gjorge Ivanov surpassed his rival Social Democrat Ljubomir Frckovski in Macedonia's presidential eleciton, winning 63.14% of all votes. 42.61% of all eligible voters cast their vote, exceeding the required voter turnout of 40%. The voter turnout among ethnic Albanians who comprise one quarter of Macedonia's populaiton ranged from as low as 1.61 to 16.21%. Newly elected president Ivanov will take office on May 12.

Macedonia's ruling party candidate Gjorge Ivanov has won a landslide victory in Sunday's second round of presidential election, the country's election body confirmed on Monday.

    With 99.93 percent of ballot papers counted, Ivanov has won 63.14 percent of the votes, while Ljubomir Frckovski, candidate of the main opposition Socialists, has won 36.86 percent.

    Frckovski has admitted defeat and congratulated his rival Ivanov on his success.

    "I take this opportunity to congratulate Ivanov on the victory," Frckovski told supporters just after midnight.

    Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, also a member of the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE, said the election was a victory for Macedonia.

    "Ivanov has a big lead, but we are still waiting for the final results from the state election commission," said Gruevski.

    Voter turnout stands at 42.61 percent, according to latest figures released by the state election commission.

    Under Macedonia's election law, the voter turnout in the second round should be above 40 percent for the run-off to be effective, otherwise, the entire election has to be re-run.

    "The result is almost the last, but we still have to wait for several days to give the final because we need to address complaints concerning the election," Zoran Tanevski, Macedonia's state election commission spokesman, told Xinhua.

    The results from the election also showed that ethnic Albanians, who make up one quarter of the country's 2.1 million people, showed apathy towards the election.

    Results showed that in the districts populated mainly by ethnic Albanians, the highest voter turnout in the presidential run-off is 16.21 percent, the lowest 1.61 percent.

    Macedonia staged first round of presidential election on March 22, but none of the seven candidates won the outright majority to be the winner. The two strongest competitors in that round pitted against each other in the second for the five-year presidency.

    Ivanov, born in 1960 in Skopje, has been a political scientist in Skopje University for the past 17 years. He is married with one child.

    Ivanov is expected to take office on May 12.