President of North Macedonia

President of the Republic of North Macedonia
Претседател на Република Северна Македонија (Macedonian) Presidenti i Republikës së Maqedonisë së Veriut (Albanian)
Presidential coat of arms
Incumbent Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova since 12 May 2024
Status	Head of State
Residence	Villa Vodno[1]
Appointer	Direct election
Term length	Five years renewable once
Constituting instrument	Constitution of North Macedonia
Formation	16 April 1991
First holder	Kiro Gligorov
Salary	17,250 USD annually[2]
Website	pretsedatel.mk

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Legislature Assembly President: Afrim Gashi
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The president of the Republic of North Macedonia (Macedonian: Претседател на Република Северна Македонија, romanized: Pretsedatel na Republika Severna Makedonija; Albanian: Presidenti i Republikës së Maqedonisë së Veriut)^{[note 1]} is the head of state of North Macedonia.

The office was first established a few months before the declaration of independence on 8 September 1991. The first president was Kiro Gligorov, the oldest Macedonian political official,^[3] until his resignation in 1999. Although largely a ceremonial position, with most of the legislative power being vested in the prime minister and the Assembly, the president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the first body for performing foreign affairs.^[4][5]

Presidential rights and obligations are determined by the Constitution and laws. The president must be a citizen of North Macedonia, be over 40 years of age and have lived in North Macedonia for at least ten of the previous fifteen years before election.^[6]

The president of North Macedonia is elected using a modified two-round system; a candidate can only be elected in the first round of voting if they receive the equivalent of over 50% of the vote from all registered voters.^[7] In the second round, voter turnout must be at least 40% for the result to be deemed valid.^[8]

Before 2009, the constitution required a 50% turnout in the second round. The XXXI amendment to the constitution, voted on 9 January 2009 by all 86 present deputies, lowered it to the current 40%,^[9] as the government feared the tendency of ever lower election turnout would make presidential elections frequently invalidated. In the 2009 Macedonian presidential election that followed, the turnout in the second round ended up being 42.6%.^[10]

During the period of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, there was a collective presidency which was abolished in 1991. Its first president was Metodija Andonov Čento, elected at the first plenary session of ASNOM, when the modern state was formed, while the last one was Vladimir Mitkov.^[11]

Following the transition from socialist system to parliamentary democracy in 1990, the Socialist Republic of Macedonia changed the collective leadership with a single-president post in 1991, few months before independence. Kiro Gligorov became the first president of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia on 27 January 1991.^[12] On 16 April 1991 the parliament adopted a constitutional amendment removing the term "Socialist" from the official name of the country, and on 7 June of the same year, the new name Republic of Macedonia was officially established.^[13] Hence Gligorov continued his function as President of the Republic of Macedonia.

After the process of dissolution of Yugoslavia began, the Republic of Macedonia proclaimed full independence following a referendum held on 8 September 1991. Kiro Gligorov was incapacitated after an assassination attempt in 1995. Stojan Andov served as acting president for 98 days during Gligorov's recovery. On completing his second term as head of the independent state, Gligorov was succeeded by Boris Trajkovski in 1999. Following Trajkovski's death in 2004, he was succeeded by Branko Crvenkovski. Gjorge Ivanov won the 2009 presidential election and took office on 12 May 2009. He was re-elected in 2014.

The position initially had some considerable powers, as Macedonia functioned within the framework of a de facto semi-presidential republic. The president had control over the military and was the primary actor when it came to setting the foreign policy agenda. As such, both Gligorov and Trajkovski were the primary representatives of the fledgling republic abroad. The 2001 Ohrid Agreement, brokered by President Trajkovski in an effort to reduce interethnic tensions in the country, led to the adoption of constitutional amendments on November 16, 2001, which, in addition to granting representational rights to the Albanian-speaking minority, also stripped the president of any executive authority he previously had.^[14] President Trajkovski respected this arrangement for the remainder of his term, with authority over foreign policy passing first to Prime Minister Ljupco Georgievski and then to Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski.

After Trajkovski's tragic death in 2004, Crvenkovski was elected as the next president, and it was widely expected that he would remain in de facto control of the government.^[15] Owing to his popularity in the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, Crvenkovski maintained some level of control over foreign affairs during the premiership of Hari Kostov, but with the election of Vlado Buckovski, the new leader of the Social Democratic Union, as prime minister, Crvenkovski largely refrained from interfering with the government and limited his activities to ceremonial matters. While Crvenkovski was opposed to Nikola Gruevski after the latter's election as prime minister, there was little that he could have done, as by that time the presidency had very little authority.

In 2009, Crvenkovski was replaced as president by Gjorge Ivanov, an ally of Gruevski. After Greuvski resigned in 2016, an interim government led by Emil Dimitriev was inaugurated, but President Gjorge Ivanov largely took de facto lead over governance and halted judicial inquiries into Gruevski administration officials implicated in the wiretapping scandal. This caused massive protests, including calls for Ivanov's impeachment.

With the inauguration of Zoran Zaev executive authority returned to the government. In 2019, Ivanov was succeeded by Zaev ally Stevo Pendarovski as president. In 2020, Zaev briefly resigned as prime minister and was replaced by Oliver Spasovski. During Spasovski's interim premiership, President Pendarovski came to the fore as the country's leader, most notably in first declaring and then ending the country's State of Emergency in the fight against COVID-19. Pendarovski largely gave up his increased executive authority when Zaev returned as prime minister at the end of the year. In 2022, Zaev was replaced as prime minister by Dimitar Kovacevski. Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova is the incumbent president and she took office on 12 May 2024.^[16]

Parties

  KPM/SKM   Independent

Status

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth-Death)	Term of office		Political party
President of Initiatory Committee for the Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) 1943–1944
1		Metodija Andonov-Čento (1902–1957)	1 October 1943	2 August 1944	KPM
		Chairman of the Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) 1944–1945
		Metodija Andonov-Čento (1902–1957)	2 August 1944	1 January 1945	KPM
		Presidents of the Presidium of the People's Assembly 1945–1953
		Metodija Andonov-Čento (1902–1957)	1 January 1945	15 March 1946	KPM
—		Dimitar Nestorov (1890–1968)	16 March 1946	30 December 1946	KPM
2		Blagoja Fotev (1900–1993)	1947	4 January 1951	KPM
—		Vidoe Smilevski (1915–1979)	4 January 1951	1953	KPM
Presidents of the People's Assembly 1953–1974
3		Dimče Stojanov (1910–1991)	1953	19 December 1953	SKM
4		Lazar Koliševski (1914–2000)	19 December 1953	26 June 1962	SKM
5		Ljupčo Arsov (1910–1986)	26 June 1962	24 June 1963	SKM
6		Vidoe Smilevski (1915–1979)	25 June 1963	12 May 1967	SKM
7		Mito Hadživasilev (1921–1968)	12 May 1967	1 August 1968	SKM
8		Nikola Minčev (1915–1997)	23 December 1968	6 May 1974	SKM
Presidents of the Presidency 1974–1991
9		Vidoe Smilevski (1915–1979)	6 May 1974	31 October 1979	SKM
10		Ljupčo Arsov (1910–1986)	31 October 1979	29 April 1982	SKM
11		Angel Čemerski (1923–2005)	29 April 1982	29 April 1983	SKM
12		Blagoja Taleski (1924–2001)	29 April 1983	29 April 1984	SKM
13		Tome Bukleski (1921–2018)	29 April 1984	26 April 1985	SKM
14		Vančo Apostolski (1925–2008)	26 April 1985	28 April 1986	SKM
—		Mateja Matevski (1929–2018)	28 April 1986	30 April 1986	SKM
15		Dragoljub Stavrev (1932–2003)	30 April 1986	May 1988	SKM
16		Jezdimir Bogdanski (1930–2007)	May 1988	28 April 1990	SKM
17		Vladimir Mitkov (1931–2024)	28 April 1990	27 January 1991	SKM
18		Kiro Gligorov (1917–2012)	27 January 1991	18 September 1991	Independent

Parties

  LPM   DA   VMRO-DPMNE   SDSM   Independent

Status

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth-Death)	Term of office			Political party	Election
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Kiro Gligorov (1917–2012)	18 September 1991	4 October 1995	4 years, 16 days	SDSM	1994
–		Stojan Andov (1935–2024) Acting	4 October 1995	10 January 1996[17][18]	98 days	LPM	—
(1)		Kiro Gligorov (1917–2012)	10 January 1996	19 November 1999	3 years, 313 days	SDSM	–
–		Savo Klimovski (born 1947) Acting	19 November 1999	15 December 1999[19]	26 days	DA	—
2		Boris Trajkovski (1956–2004)	15 December 1999	26 February 2004[19] †	4 years, 73 days	VMRO-DPMNE	1999
–		Ljupčo Jordanovski (1953–2010) Acting	26 February 2004	12 May 2004[19]	76 days	SDSM	—
3		Branko Crvenkovski (born 1962)	12 May 2004	12 May 2009[19]	5 years	SDSM	2004
4		Gjorge Ivanov (born 1960)	12 May 2009	12 May 2019[19]	10 years	VMRO-DPMNE	2009 2014
5		Stevo Pendarovski (born 1963)	12 May 2019	12 May 2024	5 years	SDSM	2019
6		Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova (born 1953)	12 May 2024	Incumbent	233 days	VMRO-DPMNE	2024

Turnout by round and municipality

• Vice President of North Macedonia
• Prime Minister of North Macedonia
• List of presidents of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia

• Official site of the president of North Macedonia