Polarised North Macedonia votes for president

North Macedonia yesterday returned to the ballot box for a presidential run-off that risks turning into a major headache for the ruling Social Democrats, whose candidate is battling a nationalist-backed rival.

Turnout figures will be as important as who wins, with 40 percent of the electorate needed to vote to validate the poll.

The two candidates, the ruling party’s Stevo Pendarovski and right-wing favourite Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, finished in a near dead heat in the first round last month.

Their tie reflected a split between pro-West and nationalist camps who have clashed over the government’s recent move to change the country’s name to North Macedonia, which ended a long-running row with Greece.

But record-low turnout in the first round, at barely over 41 percent, also reflected a failure to galvanise most of the 1.8 million voters.