N Macedonia set for rocky ties with EU neighbors

SKOPJE

North Macedonia on Thursday appeared to be on a collision course with its EU neighbors Greece and Bulgaria, as the nationalist opposition swept parliamentary and presidential elections.

The country's right-wing VMRO-DPMNE party earned an easy victory, with the ruling Social Democrats (SDSM) conceding defeat before any official results were announced.

Fireworks echoed through the capital Skopje as news of the landslide victory spread.

"We succeeded, Macedonia won. It's a historic win for the people," VMRO-DPMNE's party chief and likely incoming prime minister, Hristijan Mickoski, told supporters.

The state election commission reported that VMRO-DPMNE won at least 59 seats in the 120-seat parliament, with roughly 92 percent of votes counted.

The SDSM won just 19 seats, with the rest divided among a slew of smaller parties.

The nationalist party's success will likely have a major effect on the Balkan country's dream of joining the European Union.

Mickoski has refused to acknowledge the country's new name and a historic agreement with Greece in 2018, which added "North" to its title to settle a long-running dispute and allowed the country to join NATO.

The opposition leader has also vowed to stand firm in a tussle with Bulgaria over linguistic and historical issues that has seen Sofia block North Macedonia's EU accession talks for the past two years.

Bulgaria has demanded Skopje change its constitution to acknowledge its Bulgarian minority.

In the presidential run-off, which also took place on Wednesday, VMRO-DPMNE-backed candidate Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova was set to become the country's first woman president, after beating long-time rival Stevo Pendarovski, the incumbent president.