Skopje, 22 February 2024 (MIA) — A day ahead of the start of collecting signatures for candidates for President and Members of Parliament, the country's largest political parties announced the presidential candidates who are expected to receive their support at party conventions scheduled for early March.

In his bid for a second presidential term, President Stevo Pendarovski has received the support of the SDSM leadership, and VMRO-DPMNE will back MP Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, their candidate in the 2019 presidential election as well.

SDSM on Wednesday said they would present the decision to back Pendarovski before the members of the party's Executive and Central Boards in the coming days. Meetings with coalition partners are already planned for the next days, and the official nominating convention will be held on March 3.

"Pendarovski is the winning candidate, with the greatest coalition capacity, who strongly shares a vision for the country's European future together with SDSM and the parties of the progressive, democratic bloc. In his current term, he restored the integrity and credibility of the institution of the President and showed what it means to be a President for all citizens," SDSM said.

Siljanovska-Davkova was the only one who applied to VMRO-DPMNE's open call for President of the country, the party said Wednesday. Delegates at a nominating convention scheduled for March 2, 2024, will be deciding on her bid. 

She teaches Constitutional Law and Political System at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University. She is UN expert for elections and Vice-President of the Group of Independent Experts for Local Self-Government in the Council of Europe and a member of the Venice Commission. 

DUI has still not announced who they will support, although current foreign minister Bujar Osmani is rumored to be a potential candidate. DUI's leader Ali Ahmeti said he would share important news on Thursday, scheduling a press conference at the party's headquarters in Mala Rechica at 1 pm.

GROM leader and Karposh Mayor Stevcho Jakimovski will run for President backed by his party, according to a media statement given after Wednesday's session of GROM's Central Board.

Earlier, the European Alliance for Change announced that their candidate would be Arben Taravari, the leader of the Alliance for Albanians. He said he would seek the support of the Albanians and DUI. 

"My partners and I aim for the future opening of the Constitution to include three elements: Including Bulgarians and other minorities in the Constitution; second, removing the '20 percent' wording about the Albanian language; third, electing a president in Parliament and no longer in elections. This is the big news. In this way, in the future, the political forces representing the two largest nationalities together in the Parliament will decide on the distribution of the three highest state functions," Taravari said about his presidential platform.

Professor Biljana Vankovska will be Levica's presidential candidate. Velo Markovski, who first announced his presidential bid several months ago, will also be collecting signatures. Kumanovo mayor Maksim Dimitrievski's ZNAM Movement is also expected to announce their presidential candidate later on Thursday.

Collecting signatures for presidential candidates begins Feb. 23 and ends on March 8, according to the State Election Commission. If the candidate is backed by a group of voters, they need to collect at least 10,000 signatures of registered voters. If the candidate is backed by MPs, they need to collect at least 30 signatures of MPs.

The candidates need to submit their bids to the SEC by March 19 at midnight. The deadline is the same for both the presidential and the parliamentary election. The presidential election is on April 24, and the parliamentary election will be held on May 8. nn/mr