President of North Macedonia

The president of the Republic of North Macedonia (Macedonian: Претседател на Република Северна Македонија, romanized: Pretsedatel na Republika Severna Makedonija) is the head of state of North Macedonia.

President of the Republic of North Macedonia Претседател на Република Северна Македонија (Macedonian) Presidenti i Republikës së Maqedonisë së Veriut (Albanian)
Presidential Coat of arms
Incumbent Stevo Pendarovski since 12 May 2019
Residence	Villa Vodno[1]
Appointer	Direct election
Term length	Five years renewable once
Constituting instrument	Constitution of North Macedonia
Formation	16 April 1991
First holder	Kiro Gligorov
Salary	17,250 USD annually[2]
Website	pretsedatel.mk

The institution of the presidency began after the declaration of independence on 8 September 1991. The first president was Kiro Gligorov, the oldest president in the world until his resignation in 1999. The presidency is largely a ceremonial post and the prime minister of North Macedonia is the country's leading political figure and de facto chief executive.

The president must be a citizen of North Macedonia, be over 40 years of age and have lived in North Macedonia for at least ten of the previous fifteen years before election.[3]

Electoral system

The president of North Macedonia is elected using a modified two-round system; a candidate can only be elected in the first round of voting if they receive the equivalent of over 50% of the vote from all registered voters.[4] In the second round, voter turnout must be at least 40% for the result to be deemed valid.[5]

The Constitution mandates that the president must be over 40 years of age and have lived in the country for ten of the last fifteen years before election.

Before 2009, the constitution required a 50% turnout in the second round. The XXXI amendment voted on 9 January 2009 by all 86 present deputies lowered it to the current 40%,[6] as the government feared the tendency of ever lower election turnout would make presidential elections frequently invalidated. In the 2009 Macedonian presidential election that followed, the turnout in the second round ended up being 42.6%.[7]

History

During the period of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, there was a collective presidency which was abolished in 1991. Its first president was Metodija Andonov Čento elected at the first plenary session of ASNOM, when the modern state was formed, while the last one was Vladimir Mitkov.[8]

Following the transition from socialist system to parliamentary democracy in 1990, the Socialist Republic of Macedonia changed the collective leadership with a single-president post in 1991, few months before independency. Kiro Gligorov became the first democratically elected president of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia on 27 January 1991.[9] On 16 April 1991 the parliament adopted a constitutional amendment removing the term "Socialist" from the official name of the country, and on 7 June of the same year, the new name Republic of Macedonia was officially established.[10] Hence Gligorov continued his function as a president of the Republic of Macedonia.

After the process of dissolution of Yugoslavia began, the Republic of Macedonia proclaimed full independence following a referendum held on 8 September 1991. Kiro Gligorov was incapacitated after an assassination attempt in 1995. Stojan Andov served as acting president for 44 days during Gligorov's incapacitation. On completing his second term as head of the independent state, Gligorov was succeeded by Boris Trajkovski in 1999. Following Trajkovski's death in 2004, he was succeeded by Branko Crvenkovski. Gjorge Ivanov won the 2009 presidential election and took office on 12 May 2009. He was re-elected in 2014. Stevo Pendarovski is the current incumbent and he took the office on 12 May 2019.

List of presidents

SR Macedonia

Parties

  KPM/SKM   Independent

Status

  Acting President

No.	Name (Birth–Death)	Portrait	Term of office		Political party
President of Initiatory Committee for Anti-Fascist Assembly of People's Liberation of Macedonia 1943–1944
1	Metodija Andonov-Čento (1902–1957)		1 October 1943	2 August 1944	KPM
	Chairman of the Anti-Fascist Assembly of People's Liberation (ASNOM) 1944–1945
	Metodija Andonov-Čento (1902–1957)		2 August 1944	1 January 1945	KPM
	Presidents of the Presidium of the People's Assembly 1945–1953
	Metodija Andonov-Čento (1902–1957)		1 January 1945	15 March 1946	KPM
—	Dimitar Nestorov (1890–1968)		16 March 1946	30 December 1946	KPM
2	Blagoja Fotev (1900–1993)		1947	4 January 1951	KPM
—	Vidoe Smilevski (1915–1979)		4 January 1951	1953	KPM renamed in 1952 to SKM
Presidents of the People's Assembly 1953–1974
3	Dimče Stojanov (1910–1991)		1953	19 December 1953	SKM
4	Lazar Koliševski (1914–2000)		19 December 1953	26 June 1962	SKM
5	Ljupčo Arsov (1910–1986)		26 June 1962	24 June 1963	SKM
6	Vidoe Smilevski (1915–1979)		25 June 1963	12 May 1967	SKM
7	Mito Hadživasilev (1921–1968)		12 May 1967	1 August 1968	SKM
8	Nikola Minčev (1915–1997)		23 December 1968	6 May 1974	SKM
Presidents of the Presidency 1974–1991
9	Vidoe Smilevski (1915–1979)		6 May 1974	31 October 1979	SKM
10	Ljupčo Arsov (1910–1986)		31 October 1979	29 April 1982	SKM
11	Angel Čemerski (1923–2005)		29 April 1982	29 April 1983	SKM
12	Blagoja Taleski (1924–2001)		29 April 1983	29 April 1984	SKM
13	Tome Bukleski ( 1921-2018)		29 April 1984	26 April 1985	SKM
14	Vančo Apostolski (1925–2008)		26 April 1985	28 April 1986	SKM
—	Mateja Matevski (1929–2018)		28 April 1986	30 April 1986	SKM
15	Dragoljub Stavrev (1932–2003)		30 April 1986	May 1988	SKM
16	Jezdimir Bogdanski (1930–2007)		May 1988	28 April 1990	SKM
17	Vladimir Mitkov (born 1931)		28 April 1990	27 January 1991	SKM
18	Kiro Gligorov (1917–2012)		27 January 1991	18 September 1991	Independent

Republic of Macedonia / North Macedonia

Parties

  LPM   DA   VMRO-DPMNE   SDSM   Independent

Status

  Acting president

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Political party	Election
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Kiro Gligorov (1917–2012)	18 September 1991	4 October 1995	4 years, 16 days	Independent	1994
–		Stojan Andov (born 1935) Acting	4 October 1995	17 November 1995	44 days	LPM	—
(1)		Kiro Gligorov (1917–2012)	17 November 1995	19 November 1999	4 years, 2 days	Independent	—
–		Savo Klimovski (born 1947) Acting	19 November 1999	15 December 1999	26 days	DA	—
2		Boris Trajkovski (1956–2004)	15 December 1999	26 February 2004 †	4 years, 73 days	VMRO-DPMNE	1999
–		Ljupčo Jordanovski (1953–2010) Acting	26 February 2004	12 May 2004	76 days	SDSM	—
3		Branko Crvenkovski (born 1962)	12 May 2004	12 May 2009	5 years, 0 days	SDSM	2004
4		Gjorge Ivanov (born 1960)	12 May 2009	12 May 2019	10 years, 0 days	VMRO-DPMNE	2009 2014
5		Stevo Pendarovski (born 1963)	12 May 2019	Incumbent	1 year, 96 days	SDSM	2019

Latest election

2019 North Macedonian presidential election

Candidate	Party	First round		Second round
		Votes	%	Votes	%
Blerim Reka	Independent	79.888	10,60
Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova	VMRO-DPMNE	318.341	42,25	377.713	44,73
Stevo Pendarovski	Social Democratic Union of Macedonia	322.581	42,81	436.212	53,59
Invalid/blank votes		32.696	4,34	30.437	3,60
Total		753.520	100	844.360	100
Registered voters/turnout		1.808.131	41,67	1,808,131	46,70
Source: SEC

See also

• List of presidents of North Macedonia by longevity
• Vice President of Macedonia
• Prime Minister of North Macedonia
• List of presidents of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia

References

1. "www.dnevnik.com.mk". Archived from the original on 28 September 2011.
2. "Infographic: What are the Monthly Salaries of Presidents in the Region". Sarajevo Times. 25 February 2018.
3. Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, Article 80.
4. Polls Open in Macedonia Presidential Elections Balkan Insight, 13 April 2014
5. AMENDMENT XXXI Constitution of North Macedonia
6. "The Constitution of the Republic of North Macedonia". www.sobranie.mk.
7. Anna Fruhstorfer; Michael Hein (12 October 2016). Constitutional Politics in Central and Eastern Europe: From Post-Socialist Transition to the Reform of Political Systems. Springer. pp. 325–. ISBN 978-3-658-13762-5.
8. "Prof. Dr. Vladimir Mitkov - Faculty of Law, University of Skopje". Archived from the original on 30 June 2012.
9. Kiro Gligorov was elected as a President on 27 January 1991, when the Socialist Republic of Macedonia was still an official name of the state. After the change of the state's name, he continued his function as a President of the Republic of Macedonia The Official Site of The President of the Republic of Macedonia Archived 2009-04-30 at the Wayback Machine
10. "On This Day" - Macedonian Information Agency - MIA Archived 2008-01-25 at the Wayback Machine, see: 1991 (in Macedonian)

External links

• Official site of the president of North Macedonia