Skopje, 9 May 2024 (dpa/MIA) — The right-wing opposition in North Macedonia convincingly won parliamentary and presidential elections on Wednesday.

With nearly all votes counted, the right-wing nationalist VMRO-DPMNE received 43.2% of the vote and will have 59 seats in the 120-seat parliament, said the state election commission in Skopje.

The right-wing party will replace the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), which has been in power since 2017.

The SDSM, led by former prime minister Dimitar Kovačevski who was in office until the beginning of the year, won just 15.3% of the vote. The party's support plummeted dramatically and fell to less than half of the share it had received in the previous parliamentary elections four years ago.

Kovačevski congratulated his political opponents on their victory on election night.

VMRO-DPMNE leader and top candidate Hristijan Mickoski will likely become the next prime minister of the NATO country.

In the run-off election for president, which also took place on Wednesday, VMRO-DPMNE candidate Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova landed a clear victory after claiming some 65% of the votes, according to the state election commission.

Siljanovska-Davkova prevailed against the incumbent Stevo Pendarovski, who was supported by the SDSM and had defeated Siljanovska-Davkova in the run-off five years ago.

The election campaign was characterized by accusations of poor and corrupt governance levelled by the opposition against the SDSM and the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) that was in government with the SDSM.

The VMRO-DPMNE adopted a nationalist tone and announced a confrontational course against neighbouring European Union members Greece and Bulgaria in the event of an election victory.

This centres on the issue of the country's name, which Skopje changed from Macedonia to North Macedonia following an agreement with Athens in 2019, as well as minority rights.

Taking a harder stance against Greece could significantly hinder the accession negotiations that the EU opened with Skopje in July 2022. EU member states Greece and Bulgaria have the right to veto practically every step of the negotiations.

Mickoski will need partners in order to form a next government. The parties of the ethnic Albanians are crucial in this respect, as this ethnic group makes up around 25% of the population of the small Balkan country.

The DUI, which has co-governed in almost all coalitions for the last 20 years, received over 14% of the vote. The VMRO-DPMNE is not considering it as a partner.

The opposition alliance of Albanian parties, called the VLEN Coalition, won 10.7% of the vote. It is considered a possible government partner for the VMRO-DPMNE.