Skopje, 6 May 2024 (MIA) - Presidential candidates Stevo Pendarovski and Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova faced off in a third televised debate on Monday evening on Kanal 5 TV, ahead of the second round of the presidential elections on May 8. 

In terms of the expectations from the second round, Pendarovski said he is the only candidate trying to win the votes of all ethnic communities and expects to receive the votes won by the candidates who didn't make it to the second round, because, according to his assessment, the concept he represents is closer to the “ideological and political profiles” of their voters.

Siljanovska-Davkova on the other hand, expects to increase her lead over Pendarovski and receive the votes of those who didn’t vote in the first round, as well as of women. 

“For the first time we now had two Albanian candidates mainly vying for the votes of ethnic Albanians, in addition to five other candidates. I am confident that both now and in the past, I was the only one trying to win the votes of all ethnic communities because I did that in 2019, as well as in my first attempt in 2014 when I didn't succeed. I had a significant number of Albanian votes as well as votes from other ethnic communities,” Pendarovski said.

According to Siljanovska-Davkova, a pro-opposition orientation is more important than ethnicity at the current elections. She reiterated that the necessary turnout threshold of 40 percent is anti-European since, she said, it leads to political deals and blackmail. 

“The turnout threshold of 40 percent is an anti-European trap and I've been warned a few times about already by those on the path of the Euro-integrations, who will examine not only the laws but the behavior as well, that we need to scrap that threshold because it absolutely doesn't unite, on the contrary, it divides, it leads to political deals, blackmail, which endanger the vote of the people. What I think works in my favor is that the people who are always undecided, especially in environments such as this, in the second round are always more likely to vote for the ones who have a bigger lead, which I do,” Siljanovska-Davkova stressed.

Regarding a potential boycott of the presidential elections, Pendarovski said there shouldn't be a boycott and that he expects the threshold of 40 percent to be exceeded. 

A total of 40 percent plus one of all registered voters, or over 725.000, need to vote in the presidential elections in order for them to succeed.

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