Macedonia’s Gruevski Re-elected Party Head

As the only candidate for the presidential seat, he garnered almost unanimous support at the 14th party congress that was held in the southern Macedonian town of Bitola.

610 out of 639 delegates voted for him on the second day of the congress.

Gruevski told delegates that the main focus in the coming period must be on Macedonia's development, reforms and meeting the strategic goals of the state.

"We will win, reforms will win, Macedonia will win," Gruevski stated, referring to the upcoming elections.

Gruevski’s re-election as VMRO DPMNE head comes at a delicate time for the country, amid a political gridlock caused by the opposition boycott of the parliament and announcements from both political blocs that they support snap polls.

Speaking in front of the delegates, Gruevski dedicated most of his speech to criticising his bitter political rival Branko Crvenkovski of the Social Democrats. He called on Crvenkovski to face him at snap polls but did not reveal an exact date for the early elections.

Gruevski and Crvenkovski have been arguing over the date of the elections for the past several weeks. The ruling party wants them to be held in April or May, while Crvenkovski's opposition grouping has said it prefers June.

Nikola Gruevski was first elected VMRO DPMNE leader at the party's congress in 2003 in Ohrid. He took over the post from Ljubco Georgievski, who stepped down as party president after 13 years.

Gruevski led his party to victory over the now opposition Social Democrats in 2006, promising swift economic recovery.

In 2008, it was his decision to hold early elections after the country failed to get a membership invitation from NATO due to a Greek blockade over the unresolved bilateral name dispute.

At those elections, he won a landslide victory, mainly relying on his image as a hard liner on the name issue.

In the current political debate, the opposition accuses Gruevski of forgetting his economic promises and building a totalitarian-like rule based on national sentiment over the name issue.

They accuse him of deliberately keeping the country at an arm’s length from NATO and EU by refusing a compromise with Greece over the dispute.