Sitting President Gjorge Ivanov is going to run for a second term in the presidential elections on 13 and 27 April. Of 1,236 delegates at VMRO-DPMNE’s convention which took place in Skopje on Saturday, 1,099 voted for Ivanov, 124 for Jove Kekenovski, 10 for former Prosecutor General Stavre Dzikov and one for Bozidar Nocev.

Shortly after the convention, Ivanov’s nomination was confirmed by over 20,000 signatures collected at the local offices of the State Election Commission.

In his address to the delegates, Ivanov spoke about the way he filled the office of president over the past five years and summed up his actions in the following five in 13 items provided that he won the election.

First and foremost, he said, he would support all activities aiming to ensure economic prosperity and political stability in Macedonia. Then he announced a clearly drawn red line in regard to the name issue.

“I will not accept any change to the Constitution with the purpose of changing the constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia. I will not accept ideas and suggestions that would threaten the Macedonian national identity, the Macedonian language and the Macedonian model of coexistence,” Ivanov said.