April 29, 2004 - 2:15 AM

Crvenkovski wins Macedonian presidential poll

By Fredrik Dahl and Kole Casule

SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonian Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski has won the country's presidential election with 62.66 percent of the
vote, according to preliminary figures from the state election commission.

Crvenkovski's centre-right challenger, Sasko Kedev, received 37.34 percent of the vote, the commission said on Thursday, after 99 percent
of the ballots had been counted.

Turnout was 53.39 percent, above the minimum requirement of 50 percent, it said.

The commission did not mention allegations by opposition nationalists of fraud.

Crvenkovski, whose Social Democrats are trying to strengthen their grip on power in the ethnically divided country, outpolled challenger
Sasko Kedev of the nationalist VMRO party in the first round of voting two weeks ago, but failed to secure an absolute majority.

"Today Macedonia, in a democratic, regular, peaceful and fair election, chose its president," the 41-year-old political veteran told jubilant
supporters after voting ended but before the commission figures were released.

The opposition said widespread ballot stuffing took place in the vote to pick a successor to Boris Trajkovski, the "peacemaker" president
who died in a February plane crash, and called on the authorities to hold a re-run.

As Social Democrats celebrated with fireworks, hundreds of Kedev supporters gathered outside parliament to protest, some burning a flag
of the ruling party.

"We will never recognise the self-proclaimed president," Kedev told his supporters, adding that his party would present what he called solid
evidence of election fraud.

Crvenkovski's spokeswoman rejected the allegations.

"This was a fair and democratic election," said Radmila Sekerinska. "VMRO did not have enough strength to accept in a dignified way... the
defeat of their candidate."

TURNOUT HURDLE CLEARED

Crvenkovski, Macedonia's third president since independence from the former Yugoslavia 13 years ago, is expected to hand the
premiership to a political ally.

There had been fears that fewer than half the 1.7 million electorate would turn out to vote, plunging the country into political uncertainty and
delaying crucial reform.

An international observer mission earlier declined to comment on the ballot-stuffing allegations. A spokeswoman said there were some
cases in the first round, but that the election had been conducted largely in line with democratic standards.

Crvenkovski vowed during his campaign to work for membership of the European Union, which Skopje applied to join last month. He also
aims to cement peace after an ethnic Albanian guerrilla insurgency brought Macedonia close to civil war three years ago.

Kedev, a 42-year-old heart surgeon, promised a "new face" fighting widespread corruption and poverty on the road towards EU
membership.

The new president may be challenged by events across the border in volatile Kosovo, the U.N.-run province whose majority Albanians are
demanding independence from Serbia.

Although the president has limited powers, Trajkovski was credited in the West for helping to end months of clashes between the security
forces and rebels in Macedonia in 2001.

Peace held firm both in the face of Trajkovski's death and last month's explosion of ethnic violence in Kosovo.