North Macedonia's Nationalist Sweep

North Macedonia appeared to be on a collision course with its EU neighbors Greece and Bulgaria, as the nationalist opposition swept parliamentary and presidential elections.

The country's right-wing VMRO-DPMNE party earned an easy victory, with the ruling Social Democrats (SDSM) conceding defeat before any official results were announced.

Fireworks echoed through the capital Skopje as news of the landslide victory spread.

"We succeeded. Macedonia won. It's a historic win for the people," Mickoski told supporters after the SDSM conceded.

"The government in Macedonia fell, and there is a reason for that. Crime, corruption, incapability, false values that they advocated, captured state, tenders, nepotism and a hundred more consequences that made the state suffer and disappointed the people,"

The state election commission later reported that VMRO-DPMNE won at least 59 seats in the 120-seat parliament, with roughly 92 percent of votes counted.

The SDSM won just 19 seats, with the rest divided among a slew of smaller parties.

The nationalist party's success will likely have a major effect on the Balkan country's dream of joining the European Union.

Mickoski has refused to acknowledge the country's new name and a historic agreement with Greece in 2018, which added "North" to its title to settle a long-running dispute and allowed the country to join NATO.

The opposition leader has also vowed to stand firm in a tussle with Bulgaria over linguistic and historical issues that has seen Sofia block North Macedonia's EU accession talks for the past two years.

"Victory is within reach and it is a consequence of all the suffering and humiliation this government brought," Mickoski told supporters.

Mickoski has also pledged to create tens of thousands of jobs, a message that has found a welcome audience with many in the country battered by abysmal economic performance and soaring inflation.