A man waits for a bus by an election poster of Blerim Reka, a candidate for two smaller ethnic Albanian opposition parties, with the inscription in Albanian reading "Reka for Republic", in a street in Skopje, North Macedonia, Friday, April 19, 2019. North Macedonia holds the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, a vote seen as key test for the center-left government's survival in a society deeply divided after the country changed its name to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece over use of the term "Macedonia". (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
April 19, 2019 - 6:52 AM
The first round of presidential elections in North Macedonia on Sunday is seen as a key test for the centre-left government's survival in a society divided by the country's name change to end a decades-old dispute with neighbouring Greece.
The name change from "Macedonia," which paves the way for the country to join NATO and the European Union, has been the main campaign issue, with one of the two front-runners vowing to challenge the agreement in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Three university law professors, including one from the ethnic Albanian minority, are vying for the largely ceremonial post.
Skopje and Athens struck a deal last June for the ex-Yugoslav republic to change its name in exchange for Greece dropping its objections to the country joining NATO.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019