Stojan Andov, Macedonia’s first Parliament Speaker post independence, dies aged 89

Yugoslav and early independence era politician Stojan Andov has died aged 89.

Andov was a Vice President of the Yugoslav Government in the late Communist period and represented Macedonia in the Council of Republics and Provinces. An economics expert, he participated in the Yugoslav Government over three terms, and was Yugoslav Ambassador to Iraq prior to the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the Iraq War.

In independent Macedonia, he formed the Liberal Party and led it until 1997, when it merged with the Democrat Party, and was later an official in the reformed Liberal Party. He was named Speaker of Parliament following the first democratic elections in 1990.