Branko Crvenkovski

President of Macedonia

(Social Democratic Union of Macedonia Web Site, CNN, RFE/RL, Macedonia.org)

Branko Crvenkovski was elected president of Macedonia on 28 April 2004, in a second round of elections. Early elections were called after the death of former Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski in a plane crash on 26 February 2004.

Crvenkovski was born on 12 October 1962 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1986, he obtained a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Automation from the School of Electrical Engineering at the St. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje.

Crvenkovski was elected member of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia at the first multi-party elections in the former Yugoslavia in 1990 after serving for several years as head of department at the Semos company in Skopje.

A former communist, Crvenkovski has been at the head of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) since April 1991.

On 5 September 1992 he became Macedonia's first prime minister after its secession from Yugoslavia and continued in the post for another four years following the December 1994 elections.

As the broad opposition coalition led by Crvenkovski's SDSM won the 15 September 2002 parliamentary elections, Crvenkovski was nominated by his party for the prime ministerial post and on 7 October, former President Boris Trajkovski entrusted him with the mandate to form the country's new government.

The ruling SDSM nominated Crvenkovski as their candidate for president in the 14 April elections. Due to lack of voter turnout, Crvenkovski and his opponent Sasko Kedev of the VMRO-DPMNE faced off in a second round of elections 28 April. Crvenkovski was declared the winner with 63 per cent of the votes.

"Good interethnic relations are the pillars of stability in Macedonia" and "the shortest route to becoming part of the European and Euro-Atlantic integration processes," Crvenkovski said in his inaugural address to parliament on 12 May.