5 May 2019; DW: North Macedonian voters are choosing a new president in a poll that could make life more difficult for the ruling Social Democrats. The entire election will need to be re-run if not enough people turn out to vote.
North Macedonian voters returned to the ballot box on Sunday to vote in a presidential run-off election.
The hotly-contested vote pits Stevo Pendarovski, backed by the ruling Social Democrats, against his nationalist-backed rival Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova.
Both picked up about 41 percent of the vote each in the first round, which saw the ethnic Albanian-backed candidate Blerim Reka squeezed out of the race.
How Reka's supporters now vote — and if they vote at all — will likely prove decisive.
The three-way presidential vote in April had a record-low turnout of 41.9 percent, just above the 40 percent needed to make the poll valid. If Sunday's vote falls below that threshold, it would be annulled and the entire process would have to be restarted.
The presidential vote follows the Balkan state's recent name change as part of an agreement with Greece to end a 28-year diplomatic row.
Neverending name dispute
In February, the word "North" was added to the country's name to differentiate it from the ancient Greek province of Macedonia. Voters approved the name change in a consultative referendum last September — albeit with a very low turnout.
Athens, in return, has removed obstacles that prevented North Macedonia from becoming a member of NATO. Skopje also hopes that, with a Greek veto lifted, it will receive an invitation for North Macedonia to start EU membership talks in June.
The accord continues to divide Macedonians, and it has eclipsed all other issues during campaigning.
The country's outgoing nationalist president, Gjorge Ivanov, could not run again having already served the maximum of two terms.
