Biljana Vankovska

Biljana Vankovska Cvetovska (Macedonian: Билјана Ванковска Цветковска; born 14 November 1959) is a Macedonian doctor of political sciences. She is a full professor and head of postgraduate studies in peace and development at the Faculty of Philosophy at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje. Additionally, she is a professor at the European Peace University in Austria.^[1]

Vankovska ran for president in the 2014 Macedonian general election but did not achieve enough signatures to qualify as a candidate. Using the example of her university colleague Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, who ran for the VMRO-DPMNE in the 2019 election, she sought a party endorsement for the 2024 election. The Left endorsed her candidacy based on their shared left-wing politics and patriotism.^[2]

Vankovska is an opponent of NATO, which she sees as a force of Western imperialism, and said that she would use the presidency to initiate the withdrawal of North Macedonia's membership. She has referred to the Treaty of Friendship, Good-Neighbourliness and Cooperation with Bulgaria, the Prespa Agreement settling the Macedonia naming dispute with Greece, and the Ohrid Agreement with the Albanian minority as a "Bermuda Triangle" for the country.^[2] Since the Gaza war, Vankovska has worn a keffiyeh. When presidential candidate Bujar Osmani invited all his opponents to an iftar except her and Stevčo Jakimovski, she reacted by questioning the ethics of holding a Muslim feast while there is famine in Gaza.^[2]

Vankovska was eliminated in the first round of voting. She said that her voters were the "vanguard" and that the public was not sufficiently enlightened to appreciate her proposals.^[3] She came sixth of seven candidates, in front of Jakimovski, with 41,331 votes (4.69%).^[4]

Vankovska has three daughters, all of whom are adults.^[2]