Stevo Pendarovski (, ; born 3 April 1963) is a Macedonian politician who serves as the 5th and current President of North Macedonia since 12 May 2019. Early life and education Stevo Pendarovski was born on 3 April 1963 in Skopje. His family originates from Galičnik. He grew up in post-earthquake Skopje. His parents were teachers. Pendarovski started his elementary studies at the then-Dositej Obradovikj School in Skopje (current-day Panajot Ginovski School) while he finished his secondary studies at the Cvetan Dimov gymnasium. Pendarovski earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje in 1987, later earning his MA and Ph.D. degrees in Political Science from the same university. Political career As a law graduate, Pendarovski first worked as a trainee in a law office in Skopje, but later left and got a job at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he worked as a security analyst. In 1998, he was appointed head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Analysis and Research Administration and a spokesman for the ministry, in the capacity of Deputy Minister of Public Relations. He was a spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs during the country's 2001 armed conflict. In 2001, Pendarovski joined the cabinet of President Boris Trajkovski, where he worked as a national security advisor. President Trajkovski and eight other people, including three members of his cabinet, died in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 26 February 2004. When the plane crash happened, Pendarovski was in Dublin as a representative of President Trajkovski in the state delegation that was due to submit the country's application for EU membership that day, which was subsequently postponed. For a short period, from 2004 to 2005, Pendarovski headed the State Election Commission. In 2005, he returned to the presidential cabinet, this time as an advisor to President Branko Crvenkovski on national security and later on foreign policy. Pendarovski left the presidential cabinet in 2009, when Crvenkovski ended his presidency. Pendarovski began teaching at the University American College in Skopje in 2008. Some of the areas he has taught and researched are: international relations, intelligence and national security, geopolitics, globalization, US foreign policy, EU foreign and security policy, small states in international relations and others. On 4 March 2014, Pendarovski was elected by the main opposition party Social Democratic Union of Macedonia as its candidate for the April 2014 presidential election.