Macedonia Heads for Presidential Runoff Vote

Young people pass beside boards with election posters of Gjorge Ivanov, left, current Macedonian President and a candidate of the ruling conservative VMRO-DPMNE party.

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov is leading in the country's presidential election, but will require a runoff to see whether he can win a second five-year term.

According to the state election commission, Ivanov leads his closest rival, Stevo Pendarovski, by about 52 percent to 38 percent, with more than 98 percent of the votes counted.

Four candidates were running for the largely ceremonial post. A runoff will take place April 27.

Turnout was a little less than half of registered voters.

In order to win the presidency outright, a candidate needs to win votes of more than 50 percent of the 1.7 million registered voters, rather than of those who actually cast ballots.