Macedonians head to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president and local officials in a vote seen as crucial for its EU and NATO membership bid. Security has been tightened in a bid to avoid deadly incidents such as those that marred previous votes.

According to opinion polls the two front runners are Gjorgje Ivanov, of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's governing conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, and Ljubomir Frckoski, who is backed by the Social Democratic SDSM.

Five other candidates are also running for the largely ceremonial presidency, including former Interior Minister Ljube Boskoski, who was acquitted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague last year.

Current President Branko Crvenkovski is not running for a second term.

Neither of the frontrunners is expected to gain the absolute majority needed to avoid a run-off vote on 5 April.

The 1.8 million eligible voters in the former Yugoslav republic will also elect the mayors of 85 communities.

More than 500 international and around 7,000 local observers are on hand to monitor Sunday's vote.

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