Macedonian Ruling Party Reveals Election Candidates
After leaving journalists anxiously waiting for days, Macedonia's ruling party submitted its list of top candidates for the June 5 elections just before the deadline.
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PM Nikola Gruevski leads the list of ruling party candidates | Photo by: FoNet |
As expected, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is the first among the team of six top candidates who will lead the VMRO DPMNE party in the six separate electoral districts.
Gruevski will go up against the opposition prime minister in-waiting, Radmila Shekerinska of the Social Democrats, in the first district in the capital, Skopje.
The ruling party made its list public just before midnight on Thursday, after which Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki published the top candidates on his Facebook profile.
The other five VMRO DPMNE top candidates are also prominent party members, and all but one are part of Gruevski’s government.
Police Minister Gordana Jankulovska will lead the party list in the second district, which covers parts of northern Macedonia. VMRO DPMNE MP Branko Gjorcev will lead the party in the third district in central and parts of eastern Macedonia.
Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski is selected to top the party list in the fourth electoral district, Foreign Minister Milososki will be in charge for the fifth district and Education Minister Nikola Todorov is responsible for the sixth.
Each of the six electoral districts will vote in 20 legislators in the 120-seat national assembly. Parties are entitled to submit their lists of 20 candidates in each district separately, and based on their electoral score candidates from these lists are picked to enter the parliament.
Members of the diaspora, who will vote for the first time in the June elections will add three more legislators to the parliament.
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Blog
Macedonia Finds the Centre Ground Just in Time
After two decades of independence, and just weeks before the June 5 elections, Macedonia has finally located its pivotal point.
Election Background
Macedonia Elections Profile
On June 5 Macedonians will vote for 123 legislators in six electoral districts. Three of the legislators will be elected from the diaspora, which is allowed to vote for the first time. More than 1.7 million people are eligible to vote.
Macedonia 2011 Elections Interactive Map
1,821,122 million people out of some 2.2 million Macedonians are eligible to vote in the June 5 general election. The clickable map shows the top candidates for the Macedonia 2011 early elections by electoral region.
Past Election Results in Macedonia
During the country’s 20 years of post-independence history past elections were often marred by significant controversies and allegations of fraud. As the June elections approach, doubt remains whether the friction between the two parties will allow for polls that meet international standards.
Key political Parties in Macedonia
The main political players are divided into two ethnic blocs. Macedonians traditionally choose the party that forms the government. The Albanian camp produces its own champion, which is then usualy asked to join the government as a junior partner.
