Deputes temporary halted one of nine controversial legal changes intended to speed up the construction of key highways, after archaeologists staged a protest warning that cultural heritage finds could be put at risk by the proposed rules

Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, 70, will become the first female president of North Macedonia; she was the candidate of the nationalist opposition party VMRO-DPMNE, which also won the parliamentary elections

The resounding victory of the conservative candidate Gordana Siljanovska (41,2% to 20,5%) over outgoing president Stevo Pendarovski, supported by Socialist Party, in the first round of the presidential elections reflects a general rising nationalist trend

Ahead of the double parliamentary and presidential elections, the main opposition VMRO DPMNE party, which is expected to win the elections, wants to eliminate the mechanism that imposes quotas on ethnic minority employees in the public sector