North Macedonia holds the first round of its presidential election on Sunday, the country's first vote under a new name as it struggles with enduring economic problems, cronyism and corruption.

The vote for the largely ceremonial post comes less than three months after a deal with Athens on Skopje's name change came into force, ending a decades-long identity dispute between the neighbours.

The United States on Sunday welcomed the outcome of a referendum in Macedonia on changing its name, that could bring it economically and militarily closer to the West.

The EU warned Tuesday that elections scheduled for next month in Macedonia could not be credible, because the ruling party was the only one to register candidates.

"We believe that under current circumstances any government resulting from elections where three major political parties (out of four) are not participating would not be a credible partner for the international community," European Commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told reporters.

Macedonia braced for fresh protests Thursday after an anti-government demonstration turned violent, following the president's shock decision to halt probes into more than 50 public figures embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal.

Protesters late Wednesday ransacked the offices used by President Gjorge Ivanov's team and set fire to furniture in sporadic clashes in the capital Skopje, as thousands took to the streets demanding his resignation.

Macedonia police on Wednesday fired tear gas and stun grenades at migrants staging a protest at the country's border fence with Greece, an AFP reporter said.

About 100 migrants spread out over about 100 meters (yards) tugging at the wire fence, but swiftly pulled back when two squads of Greek riot police moved in, the reporter said.

Macedonian soldiers trudge through torrential rain in a borderland once home to quiet vineyards, searching for migrants trying to sneak through a hole in the locked-down gate to western Europe.

The voices of refugee children drift across from Greece, just the other side of barbed-wire topped fencing, where a multitude of colorful tents can be seen with clothes strung out on lines between them.

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov on Friday angrily charged that his country had been forced to "pay for the mistakes" of the EU amid the record migrant influx.

His country's border closure with EU member Greece has, along with similar moves by other Balkan states, effectively stopped the refugee influx to northern Europe but left tens of thousands stranded in Greece.

Not a single migrant has entered Macedonia for the past two days, police said Wednesday, but denied that the country had closed its border with Greece entirely.

Thousands of migrants are blocked on the Greek-Macedonia border after a string of western Balkan nations closed their borders in the face of Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II.

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov on Friday warned European Union leaders they must do more to help his country cope with a migrant crisis that he said they must take the blame for.

In a scathing indictment of the EU's failure to anticipate the crisis or to respond adequately to it, Ivanov said Macedonia was facing intolerable pressure because of the ease with which asylum seekers and other migrants can reach neighboring Greece from Turkey.

Macedonia on Wednesday allowed around 250 migrants to cross its border with Greece, as 10,000 more were left waiting in miserable conditions, Greek officials and AFP reporters at the scene said.

Around 170 people were allowed to pass overnight and additional small groups were accepted during the day.