6 June 2011
By Kole Casule
SKOPJE, June 6 (Reuters) – Macedonia's conservative ruling party was looking for coalition partners on Monday after it won in Sunday elections but fell short of a majority to govern a country which is struggling to improve its economic outlook.
The main task of the new government, expected to be formed by the end of July, will be to revive the economy, fight unemployment and poverty, and speed up the Balkan nation's drive to join the European Union and NATO.
The most likely coalition partner for the VMRO-DPMNE party was the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), the party that garnered the most votes among the ethnic Albanian minority which makes up one third of Macedonia's two million population.
"We will work to achieve our dream that Macedonia becomes a successful and prosperous country, a member of the European Union and NATO," VMRO-DPMNE party leader and current Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski told reporters on Monday. "From tomorrow we continue with our obligation to help the citizens."
International observers assessed the elections as competitive, transparent and free, although there were some reports about pressure on the public administration by the ruling party. "These elections have laid a cornerstone for a stable, democratic future," said Roberto Battelli, the special coordinator of the short-term Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observer mission.
ETHNIC BALANCE
The DUI has been part of the ruling government coalition since 2008, but until Sunday's vote VMRO-DPMNE had an absolute majority. The ruling party had previously taken the DUI into the coalition as part of an unwritten rule that an Albanian party is always invited into the government to preserve ethnic balance. Now that the VMRO-DPMNE must find a coalition partner, the DUI is seen as having a stronger hand than before.
There is also a smaller ethnic Albanian party with enough support to serve as junior coalition partner, at least according to initial results. Preliminary results from the state electoral commission with all votes counted show VMRO-DPMNE won 39.1 percent, and its main opponents, the Social Democrats (SDSM) at 32.7 percent. The VMRO-DPMNE said it had won 55 of the 123 seats in parliament, while the DUI had won 14.
Macedonians voted peacefully despite campaign accusations of fraud and intimidation. The early elections were called as a way out of a political crisis that had threatened the country's EU reform path. "The reality of election day has proven many of the pre-election allegations wrong and put the country on track to have a climate free of paranoia that undermines voters' faith in the electoral process," said Battelli.
One of Europe's poorest countries, Macedonia survived the global financial crisis almost untouched, but one third of its people live below the poverty line and, with unemployment above 30 percent, economic reforms remain a key priority. Macedonia became an EU candidate state in 2005, but so far it has failed to open membership talks because of Greek objections to the former Yugoslav republic's name.
Athens rejects the name Macedonia because it says it implies territorial ambitions towards Greece's own northern province of Macedonia, birthplace of Alexander the Great.
