Gjorge Ivanov

In March 2016 Ivanov stated that the European Union had failed the Republic of Macedonia and other Balkan countries in the European migrant crisis.

On 12 April 2016 Ivanov halted judicial inquiries into officials involved in a wiretap scandal. Ivanov stated to have done so in the best interest of the country, and to end the political crisis. A move that the opposition called Ivanov's coup d'état and an effective disagreement to cooperate and find a common ground solution to the problem. His own party, the VMRO-DPMNE did not agree with his action. Opposition media called it a political manoeuvre to prevent further judicial inquiry by the special prosecutor Katica Janeva, proposed by the international community to normalise the political situation. Opposition leader Zoran Zaev subsequently called for protests. A demonstration occurred in Skopje on 13 April, with the presidential offices being attacked by rioters and several people detained.

Also, four foreign statesmen were present — the president of Serbia Boris Tadić, the president of Montenegro Filip Vujanović, the president of Croatia Stjepan Mesić and the president of Albania Bamir Topi. Later that day Ivanov held bilateral talks with the four presidents.

The second inauguration of President Ivanov was held on 12 May 2014 in the Macedonian parliament The swearing-in ceremony was attended the prime minister Nikola Gruevski, military officials, leaders of the religious communities in Macedonia and foreign ambassadors in the county. The inauguration was boycotted by the Democratic Union for Integration the largest Albanian political party in the Republic of Macedonia and the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia the largest opposition party in Macedonia.

Ivanov was re-elected as President of the Republic of Macedonia for a second term in April 2014.

On 25 January 2009, the strongest party in the Macedonian parliament, VMRO-DPMNE, appointed Ivanov as the party's presidential candidate for the 2009 Macedonian presidential election. 1,016 party delegates voted for his candidacy at the party's convention. Although he was proposed as a candidate by VMRO-DPMNE, he is not a member of the party.

In the first round of the 2009 Macedonian presidential election 343,374 (35.06%) citizens of The Republic Of Macedonia voted for Ivanov, the second being the candidate of the Social Democrats, Ljubomir Frčkoski, with 20.45% of the votes.

Ivanov took office on 12 May 2009, thereby succeeding Branko Crvenkovski. After taking the oath he held his inauguration speech in the Macedonian parliament and made public his priorities - EU and NATO membership, economic recovery, inner stability, interethnic relations and good relations with the neighbouring countries, especially with Greece.

On the day Ivanov officially became president of his country, he sent a letter to the president of the United States Barack Obama in which he underlined The Republic Of Macedonia's aim to join NATO and EU and to find a "mutually acceptable solution" to the "name difference" with neighbouring Greece. He also thanked Obama for his words of support at the 2009 NATO Summit.

A series of academic appointments followed, including at universities in Bologna and Sarajevo. Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje named him associate professor in 1992 and a full-time professor in 2008. The same year, he became president of the Council for Accreditation in Higher Education in Macedonia.

Ivanov has been politically active since the Yugoslav era, when he pushed for political pluralism and market economy. Until 1990 he was an activist in the League of Socialist Youth of Yugoslavia and a member of the last presidency of the organisation, where he worked on reforming the political system and promoting political plurality and free market economy.

His professional career began in 1988, when he became an editor at the Macedonian Radio and Television, the national broadcasting station. He later taught political theory and political philosophy at the Law Faculty of the University of Skopje. In 1999, he became a visiting professor for the Southeast European programme at the University of Athens in Greece.

Gjorge Ivanov (Macedonian: Ѓорге Иванов , pronounced [ˈɟɔrɡɛ ˈivanɔf] ; born 2 May 1960) is a Macedonian politician, who served as President of North Macedonia from 2009 to 2019.