Political Rivals Sign Election Truce in Macedonia

Ali Ahmeti of the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, and Menduh Thaci of the Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, signed the document in Skopje on Wednesday. They agreed to “restrain from hate speech, insults and provocations during the campaign for the June 5 early general elections”.

The party leaders also agreed to accept the election results after the voting and called upon all other parties to also sign the document.

“The image of a nation, state and political party depends on the conduct of free and democratic elections,” Ahmeti told media after the signing.

Thaci said that he will work for “the letter of the agreement to become a reality and an example for all”.

The initiative was supported by the US and EU ambassadors Philip Reeker and Peter Sorensen, who attended the event.

Reeker remarked that with this act the two parties have showed political maturity.

“We believe that the two leaders have put their differences behind them,” Reeker said.

In past election campaigns, members and sympathizers of these two ethnic Albanian parties caused many incidents, some violent.

The most dramatic incident was the violence during the 2008 early general elections, when the friction between these parties resulted in the death of one person from a gunshot wound on the day of the voting and injuries to several others.

Back then, the incidents seriously damaged the democratic image of Macedonia as an EU candidate country.

This picture was to a large extent improved during the local and presidential elections in 2009, though those polls also saw smaller incidents between the two parties.