When Slovakia's newly elected President Zuzana Caputova -- the country's first ever female head of state -- delivered her acceptance speech on Saturday she immediately set herself apart from the wave of populist parties sweeping Europe.

The 45-year-old liberal lawyer thanked voters not just in Slovak -- but in Hungarian, Czech, Roma and Ruthenian -- in a show of unity with the nation's minority groups and rejection of the nationalist rhetoric popular in some neighboring countries.

"I am happy not just for the result but mainly that it is possible not to succumb to populism, to tell the truth, to raise interest without aggressive vocabulary," she told supporters, Reuters reported.

Caputova is a political newbie who's anti-corruption campaign struck a chord in a country still grappling with the murder in February last year of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova.

The murder -- and subsequent trial of Slovak businessman Marian Kocner who was charged with ordering the killing -- triggered some of the biggest protests seen in post-communist Slovakia and ultimately led to the resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico.

Then-President Andrej Kiska was also forced not to stand for a second term.

Link: https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/03/31/europe/slovakia-elects-president-zuzana-caputova-intl/index.html

On Monday, April 1, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, Stevo Pendarovski and Blerim Reka are starting the campaign for the sixth presidential election.
Siljanovska-Davkova is the presidential candidate of VMRO-DPMNE and the coalition, Stevo Pendarovski of SDSM and the coalition, and Blerim Reka of the Alliance of Albanians and the Besa movement.

The campaign for presidential elections will last until April 19, followed by a 24-hour election silence, before the voting day.
According to announcements from the election headquarters, the candidates will visit almost all settlements, will have meetings with citizens and rallies in major cities. Promising a peaceful and fair campaign.

In anticipation of the official start of the presidential race, appeals for fair and regular elections to the candidates, political parties and citizens addressed the international community, state officials and the SEC.

The new president will be able to choose 1,808,131 citizens with the right vote recorded in the Voters' List.

According to the SEC, the ballot paper Reka will be ranked number one, Siljanovska - Davkova under number two, and Pendarovski number three.
The first election round for the sixth presidential election is scheduled for April 21, and the second will be held on May 5.

According to Macedonian laws, the presidential candidate can win in the first round if he won over 50% of the votes of all registered voters in the Voters List.

Otherwise, a second round will be held on May 5, in which the two candidates with the most votes from the first round will compete. The turnout in the second round should be over 40 per cent for voting to be considered valid.

The term of incumbent President Gjorgje Ivanov ends on May 12, 2019.