Starting Gun Fires For Macedonia Election

Macedonia's election campaign formally started on Monday. In the next 20 days, the parties say they will be among the people, holding rallies and round tables and trying to visit as many places as they can.

The ruling VMRO-DPMNE party of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, and its ethnic Albanian partner, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, are keeping the slogans of their inaugural rallies under wraps for now.

VMRO-DPMNE plans to hold its first rally in the lakeside town of Ohrid, where it traditionally begins its campaigns. The DUI is starting its campaign in the capital, Skopje.

Gruevski who came to power in 2006, is seeking a new mandate from the voters, arguing that his government has boosted the economy and improved the welfare of the people. The party vows to protect the name of the country, which neighbouring Greece disputes and wants to see changed.

The DUI’s main point is seeking fuller implementation of the 2001 Ohrid framework Accord, which ended a bout of civil conflict in the country by granting more rights to Albanians, about a quarter of the population.

The main opposition Social Democrats also plan to start their campaign from Skopje. Unofficially, their slogan is expected to be, “For Your Future”.

The party pledges speedier economic progress and redoubled efforts to solve the name dispute with Greece, which has prevented the country from entering NATO and making progress towards EU membership.

Two ethnic Albanian opposition parties, the Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, and the New Democracy, have also revealed the main points of their platforms. Both are seeking more Albanian rights, asking for one of the three leading political posts in the country, that of president, prime minister, or speaker, to be reserved to a member of their community.

The campaign started with the usual friction between the two main political players, VMRO-DPMNE and the Social Democrats. Each has accused the other of planning electoral fraud. Several local opposition HQs were demolished in the pre-campaign period.

Leaders of some 30 parties, including Nikola Gruevski for VMRO-DPMNE and Branko Crvenkovski for the Social Democrats on Wednesday signed an election code, pledging to abide by the law and wage a peaceful and fair campaign.

Over 1.7 million people out of a population of 2.2 million Macedonians are eligible to vote on June 5. They are to elect 120 legislators in the national assembly. In addition, this year for the first time members of the diaspora may all vote. They will elect three more legislators, one from Australia, one from Europe and one from the Americas.

For the purpose of the elections, the county is divided in to six electoral districts, each with roughly the same number of registered voters. Each district sends 20 legislators to parliament.