Macedonians vote in a presidential election on Sunday shaping up as an unofficia...
SKOPJE - Macedonians vote in a presidential election on Sunday shaping up as an unofficial referendum on the hotly disputed change of the country’s name to North Macedonia under a deal with Greece.
But the name change, which Greece demanded to end what it called an implied territorial claim on its northern province also called Macedonia, continues to polarize Macedonians and has eclipsed all other issues in the presidential election campaign. “Society is deeply divided among those in favor and those against the agreement,” said political analyst Petar Arsovski. That extends to the two main presidential candidates, neither of whom are polling anywhere near a majority.
Blerim Reka, the candidate of the second largest ethnic Albanian party Besa, is forecast to come third with around seven percent of the votes. The refusal of outgoing nationalist President Gjeorge Ivanov to sign some bills passed by parliament has delayed the implementation of some key laws, including one on wider use of the Albanian language - 18 years after an ethnic Albanian uprising that pushed Macedonia to the brink of civil war.
VMRO-DPMNE supporters also favor EU and NATO membership but say the name change deal, a key precondition for such progress, has undermined the country’s South Slav identity.
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