Leading in opinion polls among the presidential candidates is George Ivanov from the ruling conservative VMRO-DPMNE party of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

VOA: standard.2009.03.22

Nikola Gruevski, leader of the centre-right VMRO-DPMNE, won a snap election in June 2011 and made a deal with his party's Albanian coalition partner to form a government.

BBC: Macedonia profile

During a meeting with visiting Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, he noted that the forces of global jihad are making a concerted effort to penetrate the Balkans through the Albanian and Bosnian Muslim communities.

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