Gordana Siljanovska‑Davkova: old photos from private life resurface

Old personal photographs of Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova have started circulating again on social networks, offering a glimpse of the president outside official duties and showing how she looked in her younger years.

Born in Ohrid to parents from Kichevo and raised in Skopje, Siljanovska‑Davkova has long been known publicly as an academic and later as a political figure. A past social media post underlines her pride in her father, Aleksandar Siljanovski, who served as a partisan.

Those who follow her private side note some personal details: she is a vegetarian, practises yoga, and counts rock'n'roll among her favourite music genres. She has been married to Blagoja for more than three decades; their family includes a daughter, Marija, and a son, Pavle.

From academia to the presidential office

Siljanovska‑Davkova’s public career began in 1992 when she entered government as a minister without portfolio in Branko Crvenkovski’s first cabinet, a post she held until 1994. In 1993 she earned her doctorate with honours from the University of Ljubljana.

She founded the first Council for the European Movement in Macedonia and served on the Venice Commission for minority issues from 2012 to 2016. Since 2004 she has been a regular professor at the Faculty of Law in Skopje and was prominently involved in the professors’ plenums during the 2014 student protests defending university autonomy.

Active on social media during her presidential campaign, she shared numerous images and clips; older snapshots that reappear now underline how her appearance has evolved. Siljanovska‑Davkova was the only woman candidate in the 2020 presidential race, and on 12 May 2024 she was inaugurated after defeating her "rival", former president Stevo Pendarovski, becoming the first woman to hold the office in North Macedonia.

Photo: press material from the event