North Macedonia will head to the polls on Wednesday in parliamentary and presidential elections in which the rightist opposition is expected to gain ground against a ruling party that has failed to progress talks to join the EU and stamp out corruption, Reuters reported.
No polls have been published ahead of the vote, but a stronger-than-expected showing from the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party in the first round of presidential elections last month suggest that voters are frustrated with the ruling Social Democrats.
A resurgent right could further slow EU accession talks and complicate relations with neighbouring EU members Greece and Bulgaria, analysts said. Wednesday’s vote includes a run-off for the more ceremonial presidency, and for parliamentary seats. Polls open at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and will close at 7 p.m.(1700 GMT). The state election commission is expected to start announcing results from 3,360 polling stations later on Wednesday.
In 2001 NATO pulled North Macedonia back from the brink of civil war during an ethnic Albanian insurgency and promised faster integration into the EU and NATO. The country of 1.83 million joined NATO in 2020 but it has made little progress with the EU, in part because of opposition from EU members Greece and Bulgaria.
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