North Macedonia elects first woman president as center-left incumbents suffer historic losses

North Macedonia elected its first woman president Wednesday as the governing Social Democrats suffered historic losses in twin presidential and parliamentary elections. Conservative-backed Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, a 70-year-old law professor, was declared the winner after receiving nearly 65% support with more than two-thirds of the vote counted in a presidential runoff. 'Is there a bigger change than electing a woman as president?' Siljanovska-Davkova told party supporters.

party, which made sweeping gains on popular discontent over the country’s slow path toward European Union membership and its sluggish economy. A coalition led by was ahead with nearly 43% in the parliamentary election, while the Social Democrat-led coalition that has held power for the least seven years struggled to hold onto second place with 14.8.% – just ahead of a group of parties led by the ethnic Albanian minority party DUI. Celebrations in the capital Skopje were muted by a thunderstorm that caused power outages. The conservative landslide win will be followed by power sharing talks for the control of the 120-seat parliament.

leader Hristijan Mickoski headed a 22-party coalition called 'Your Macedonia' that accused opponents of ineptitude and making humiliating compromises in trying to settle disputes with North Macedonia's neighbors. Mickoski, 46, told supporters that the incoming conservative-led government would make fighting corruption its priority. 'Every last person who committed a crime and committed corruption will be held accountable,' he said.

We should have been part of the European Union a long time ago,' she said. 'This is what we are lacking, but we hope that with time we will get to where we have wanted to be for so long.' More than 2,300 domestic and international observers were authorized to monitor the election.

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