Ivanov To Progress

Georgi Ivanov secured around 440,000 votes in the first round of the Macedonian presidential election held on March 22, approximately double the number secured by his nearest rival, Ljubomir Frckoski. The two candidates now progress to a second-round run-off ballot on April 5. The first-round result confirms our core view that Ivanov is likely to win a convincing majority in the second-round ballot, and with it secure the presidency for the centre-right VMRO-DPMNE bloc of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. This should in turn improve the efficiency of policymaking, although the economic downturn will continue to create political risks.

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