Presidential elections in Macedonia: a pro-Western candidate is defeated due to lobbying by the OCU
In the first round of the presidential election in North Macedonia, the candidate of the national-patriotic party VMRO-DPMNE, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, received twice as many votes as the pro-Western candidate, former President Stevo Pendarovski.
His attacks against the Macedonian Orthodox Church, which does not want to recognize the OCU, played against the latter, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
During the first round of the presidential elections in North Macedonia this Sunday, the candidate of the national patriotic party VMRO-DPMNE (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity) Gordana Siljanovska Davkova ultimately won 40,08% of voters.
Her main opponent is the pro-Western candidate, president of the country, representative of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) Stevo Pendarovski - only 19,93%.
The results of two ultra-pro-Western and separatist-minded Albanian candidates turned out to be quite modest: the representative of the Albanian party Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), former Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, who was in alliance with the SDSM, received 13% of the votes, the candidate from the Albanian opposition coalition “Alliance for Albanians” » Arben Taravari – 60%.
The second round of the country's presidential elections will take place on May 8 this year.
One of the reasons for the loss of popular support by pro-Western liberals is Pendarovski’s war with the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MPC), which only last year, after decades of schism, received autocephaly from the Serbian Orthodox Church. For which she was criticized by the Phanar (Patriarchate of Constantinople), which was offended by the fact that she received the tomos from the Serbs.
In particular, the Greeks called the SOC dependent on the Russian Orthodox Church and Moscow. But the MOC fundamentally refuses to cooperate in this matter with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which named recognition of the OCU and Eucharistic communion with it as one of the conditions for obtaining autocephaly.
In turn, Pendarovsky criticized the MOC, demanding that church hierarchs receive a tomos from the Phanar and recognize the OCU, accusing them of spying for Moscow. What people didn't like.
Also on May 8, the country will hold parliamentary elections, at which the coalition of Westerners and liberals intends to recoup their failure in the presidential elections.
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