Macedonians go to the polls on Wednesday to choose a new president following the death in a plane crash of Boris Trajkovski, widely regarded as a national hero and an international statesman.

Credited with bringing stability to Macedonia after an ethnic Albanian insurgency in 2001, Mr Trajkovski had been expected to stand for re-election in November 2004.

This time Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski is favourite to win, but some believe he could face a voter backlash over his handling of the economy.

Mr Trajkovski's party, now in opposition, is represented by an MP standing on an anti-corruption ticket. The other two candidates are ethnic Albanians: one from the ruling coalition and the other from a party in opposition.

Last election

In 1999 Mr Trajkovski was the candidate of the main ruling coalition party, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE).

He came second in the first round to Tito Petkovski of the Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM), but managed to beat him in the runoff with 52.4% of the vote.

The turnaround was attributed to the switch of Albanian voters behind Mr Trajkovski.

Powers

The president is the commander-in-chief of the Macedonian Armed Forces and head of its Security Council.

He or she appoints a prime minister and a council of ministers, as well as ambassadors and the chief of general staff.

The president has special powers in times of war or emergency.

System

The president is elected for five years and may serve a maximum two terms. The winner must gain an absolute majority, or 50% plus one of the total number of votes.

If no candidate wins outright, a runoff is held 14 days later between the two frontrunners.

Timetable

The official campaign ran from 30 March to 12 April.

The State Election Commission expects the preliminary result by 1800GMT on 15 April and will announce the final official result on 17 April.

Parties

Although candidates can stand as independents, this time only challengers fielded by parties are left in the race. The four parties are:

• Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM). Left of centre, main party in ruling coalition.
• Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE). Centre-right, nationalist, main opposition party.
• Democratic Union for Integration (DUI). Ethnic Albanian party, known as BDI in Albanian. In ruling coalition.
• Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA). Ethnic Albanian party, known as PDSh in Albanian. In opposition.

Candidates

Branko Crvenkovski (SDSM)

Branko Crvenkovski became Europe's youngest prime minister when he was appointed in August 1992.

He held the post till the SDSM lost the general election of November 1998. He returned as prime minister after the SDSM won the October 2002 election.

He has been leader of the SDSM since it was founded in 1991.

Sasko Kedev (VMRO-DPMNE)

The 42-year-old Sasko Kedev is a renowned heart surgeon and an MP.

His nomination was widely expected as he was favoured by the VMRO-DPMNE party leader, Nikola Gruevski.

Both are considered moderates in their policies towards ethnic Albanians.

Gezim Ostreni (DUI)

Gezim Ostreni is the candidate of the ethnic Albanian DUI party, of which he is secretary-general. Ostreni was the military chief of staff of the National Liberation Army (UCK), which launched the insurgency against government forces in 2001.

UCK leaders later formed the DUI and joined the government in October 2002. In the autumn of 2003 Ostreni headed the government body which coordinated the disarmament of the civilian population.

Zudi Xhelili (DPA)

The opposition DPA party initially nominated its leader, Arben Xhaferri, as its candidate.

But after claiming that the State Election Commission was obstructing his candidacy, the party put up Zudi Xhelili - an MP for Gostivar - instead.

According to an opinion poll published on 31 March, 21.1% said that they would vote for Crvenkovski, 13.2% for Sasko Kedev, 9.7% for Gezim Ostreni and 6.5% for Arben Xhaferri (later replaced as candidate by Zudi Xhelili).

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.