He subsequently specialized in commercial and employment law and made several visits to the United States, where he studied theology to become a Methodist lay minister.

He was scheduled to take office just five days later, on 19 November, but because the results were disputed, parliamentary chairman Savo Klimovski became acting president until Petkovski's supporters lost their last appeal a month later.

The aftermath of the Kosovo War led to months of violent armed clashes between Macedonian security forces and ethnic Albanian rebels,[2][3] supported by the Albanian National Army (ANA, AKSh),[4][5] seeking improvements on their status as a legitimate minority and generally better economical, administrative and legal conditions.

[6][7] During the conflict, protests occurred due to the Macedonian assault on Aračinovo being halted, the evacuation of ~500 NLA insurgents,[8] and the involvement of the international community.

"[10] Although his powers were limited and his role largely ceremonial, he presided over a NATO-brokered peace deal in 2001 that ended the violence and prevented a full-blown civil war in the Republic of Macedonia.

[1] The aircraft crashed in thick fog and heavy rain on a mountainside in southeastern Herzegovina, near the villages of Poplat and Vrsnik eight miles (15km) south-south-east of Mostar.

It came down in an area that had been heavily mined during the Bosnian War of the 1990s, which significantly hampered the rescue and recovery efforts; being difficult to handle, and as the runway is not equipped with precision landing systems, it is especially challenging in inclement weather.