[1] He earned his law degree from Skopje University and went on to work in the municipal courts for the State Bureau of Physical Planning.
Petkovski served as Secretary of the Presidency of the League of Communists of Macedonia (SKM) from 28 November 1989 until 20 April 1991.
Petkovski was the Social Democrats candidate in the 1999 presidential election.
In the first round he took first place by a wide margin, receiving 33% of the vote.
He was defeated in the second round by Boris Trajkovski, receiving 45% of the vote.