After VMRO-DPMNE formally nominated Gordana Siljanovska – Davkova as their presidential candidate, SDSM is expected to hold a convention today, and nominate incumbent President Stevo Pendarovski for another run – his third in a row.

Pendarovski lost the 2014 elections to Gjorge Ivanov, and narrowly won the 2019 elections against Siljanovska, with the help of the unified Albanian voter bloc. This time, the Albanian parties are bitterly divided, and SDSM’s own popularity has crashed after major failures on the foreign policy and EU integrations front, the string of national humiliations and the sky high inflation.

Even though SDSM has the option to nominate Pendarovski through the Parliament, with the votes of 30 representatives, the party will also try to collect 10,000 signatures starting today. VMRO is also collecting signatures today, and the candidates of the smaller parties, who don’t have 30 votes in Parliament, have already finished this process.