Macedonia Ruling Party Accused of Election Cowardice

The main opposition party pledged to continue its drive for an early general election in the country, regardless of the decision of the ruling VMRO DPMNE on Wednesday to rule out this option.

The ruling party is made up of "cowards who got scared of snap polls one day after they claimed that they were ready to face the public," Vesna Bendevska, a Social Democrat deputy, said.

The party on Sunday filed a motion for parliament to be dissolved, which would have led to elections had it been adopted.

Opinion polls show VMRO DPMNE would win any snap poll held in the coming months.

The centre-right nationalist party still has almost double the support ratings of the Social Democrats, although the gap between the parties is narrowing, according to some polls.

However, analysts said the ruling party would not do as well in a future election as it did last time round in 2008, which was probably why Nikola Gruevski's team had decided not to go to the country.

"In an early election, VMRO DPMNE risks drastically weakening its position in parliament," the head of the Skopje-based think tank, the Center for Research and Policy Making, Zidas Daskalovski, told Balkan Insight.

In statements, VMRO DPMNE said it had decided not to interrupt its four-year term in office while important reforms were taking place that would improve the economy and bring Macedonia closer to EU and NATO accession.

After taking power in 2006, VMRO-DPMNE went for a snap election in 2008, improving its position and winning almost half of the 120 seats in Macedonia's parliament. The Social Democrats were left with 19 seats, though together with their coalition partners they can muster some 30 votes.

The opposition accuses Gruevski of fostering corruption, ruining the economy and holding the country at arm's length from the EU and NATO.