Recent elections were the worst in Macedonia’s history: deputy minister of SDSM

Recent early parliamentary elections were the worst in Macedonia’s history. Nikola Gruevsaki got Pyrrhic victory, deputy chairperson of Social Democratic Union of Macedonia /SDSM/, present mayor of Strumica and leader of SDSM ticket in the forth-electoral constituency, Zoran Zaev said forFOCUS News Agency. Zaev is the only leader of the ticket who got MPs’ majority in the parliament at the early parliamentary elections on June 1st.
“ For the first time policemen cried before me because of the pressure and the threats that the Ministry of Interior exerted over them. The Election Day and the 20th days campaign will never be forgotten. Because of these elections I feel ashamed that I was a candidate at the elections and that I am engaged in politics.

OSCE, ODIHR say elections in Macedonia were substandard

Macedonia's elections Sunday (June 1st) failed to meet "key international standards", according to an OSCE/ODIHR observation mission. It cited attempts to disrupt the election in areas dominated by ethnic Albanians.

"Violence and attempts to manipulate the campaign sadly cast a shadow over otherwise well-implemented elections," OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Vice President Pia Christmas-Moller said. "Violence ... in ethnic Albanian areas is an unacceptable breach of peace and people's democratic rights."

Although Macedonian officials administered the elections well, they enforced laws "selectively" and "failed to prevent violence", the mission said in its report.

"The OSCE will monitor whether the authorities seriously address the violations and take remedial steps," Ambassador Robert Barry, the head of the OSCE/ODIHR mission, said. "We will also observe polling stations where voting is conducted again and will make a final decision depending on how much the authorities completely investigate and eliminate incidents."

According to Barry, a widespread failure to take preventive measures permitted incidents to flare on Election Day.

EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn also issued a grim statement Monday. "I deeply regret the violence that marked the elections. The European Union is strongly committed to [Macedonia's] European prospects. I emphasise that carrying out free and fair elections is the essential criterion for the process of EU integration."

Javier Solana, EU security chief, expressed disappointment as well. Spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said he had a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. "He is expecting a revote at the [worst-affected] polling stations in order to improve the image of the elections," she said.

On Monday, US Ambassador to Macedonia Gillian Milovanovic and EU Special Representative Erwan Fouere met with Gruevski to discuss the election violence.

All efforts should be made not only to pursue the perpetrators but to prosecute them. Macedonia failed this exam on democracy, but international institutions are giving it a new chance [with the planned revote], Fouere said after the meeting.

"These elections were not as good as in 2006," Milovanovic said. "Sadly, people were prevented from voting; however, the prime minister's pledge to eliminate these problems is encouraging and we are expecting better results in two weeks. I am surprised that people reacted indifferently to the incidents as if they were happening to somebody else, not to them."

Greece outrages Macedonia with ban on presidential flight

Neighbourly relations between Athens and Skopje were further soured Thursday when Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski cancelled a trip to Athens in protest at a Greek ban on his flight. "This action by Greek authorities contradicts international norms and principles and is not contributing to development of good neighbourly relations," Crvenkovski's cabinet said in a statement.

Crvenkovski was to take part in a biennial United Nations forum on natural resources in the region, but was informed by the Greek liaison office in Skopje that his plane would not be allowed to land.

The Greeks offered "alternate" transport, but Macedonia refused, the Makfax news agency said.

Greece and Macedonia have been embroiled in a diplomatic row over the name "Macedonia," which both claim as their own.

In April, Athens blocked NATO from inviting its northern neighbour to join because of the dispute, stirring strong anti-Greek sentiment in the former Yugoslav republic.

Greece does not allow Macedonian aircraft, including the carrier MAT, to fly over its territory and applied the same ban to Crvenkovski's official aeroplane.

Int'l monitors report serious violations in violence-marred Macedonian election

International monitors said Monday that serious violations marred the election in Macedonia that gave the center-right government a landslide victory but was tarnished by gunbattles and fraud allegations.

The monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said Sunday's vote failed to meet international standards and was marked by violence, intimidation and ballot box stuffing in predominantly ethnic Albanian areas.

"Organized efforts to violently disrupt the process early on Election Day made it impossible for voters in many places to freely express their will," it said.

Nikola Gruevski's center-right conservatives won 48.3 percent of the vote, far ahead of the Social Democrats' 23.4 and enough to give him a majority in the 120-seat parliament.

But one person was killed and eight wounded in gunbattles in ethnic Albanian areas. Along with allegations of fraud, the violence highlighted dangerous divisions within Macedonia's ethnic Albanian minority and threatened to undermine the Balkan nation's aspirations to join the European Union and NATO.

"What we witnessed here is damaging to this country's declared course to European and trans-Atlantic integration," said Mevlut Cavusoglu, head of a delegation from the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly. "To be frank, I am very upset with what I witnessed in this country at these elections."

Voting was suspended at 22 polling stations — 1 percent of the country's total — in ethnic Albanian areas because of intimidation, violence or reports of fraud. Reruns will be held in those areas in two weeks.

"It is clear that the commitments to the Council of Europe standards and the OSCE standards in this particular election were not met," said Robert Barry, head of the observer mission.

Voting violations were registered in 30 polling stations, and 28 people were arrested, police spokesman Ivo Kotevski said.

Gruevski pledged to ensure a fair rerun, and vowed to prosecute those responsible, according to the MIA news agency.

"I will not form the new government as long as I am not certain that fair and democratic elections have been conducted in those 1 or 2 percent of the polling stations," he was quoted as saying.

"In a state that functions under the rule of law there is no room for violence. All those who intend to provoke such acts will be sanctioned, regardless of their political, ethnic and religious affiliation."

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. expects Macedonia to prosecute those involved.

"It's the responsibility (of) a government to provide an atmosphere where people are able to freely express themselves via the ballot box and feel assured that they wouldn't be subject to threat or intimidation," he said.

Germany called for the reruns to be trouble-free. Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke said the election problems "undermine the trust of the people in the democratic processes."

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also condemned the violence and said that "key European commitments were not met."

He said the EU's overall assessment "will depend on the further handling and investigation of the violations identified."

Macedonia could face long-term consequences from Sunday's vote, said Biljana Vankovska, a political analyst and professor at Skopje university's Institute for Defense and Peace Studies.

"The international standing of the country has been undermined seriously," she said. "Yesterday was probably for many of us the worst possible outcome."

Ethnic Albanians make up about a quarter of Macedonia's 2.1 million people, and ethnic Albanian rebels fought a six-month insurgency in 2001. But divisions have grown between the minority's two main parties: the Democratic Union for Integration led by former rebel leader Ali Ahmeti and Menduh Thaci's Democratic Party of Albanians.

Tension escalated after the 2006 election, when Gruevski picked the DPA as a governing coalition partner even though it won fewer votes than Ahmeti's DUI.

"Time is long overdue for an intra-Albanian dialogue that could pave the way to reconciliation and enhance stability and democracy," Cavusoglu said.

The DUI won 11.1 percent of the vote Sunday, slightly ahead of the DPA's 10.2.

DUI called Monday for an investigation into DPA and Thaci for the shootings and other violations. Thaci also called for "people who fired bullets on civilians and policemen to be put behind bars."

Greece Bars Macedonia Leader's Plane

Greece refused to allow Macedonia’s President Branko Crvenkovski to land in Athens because his plane has the name 'Macedonia' written on it.

Greek authorities however did offer Crvenkovski alternative forms of transport, which the Macedonian leader found unacceptable.

Crvenkovski then cancelled his participation at Thursday's regional presidential summit in the Greek capital. Crvenkovski was due to attend the Summit of Chiefs of States from South Eastern Europe.

“This act goes against the international norms and principles and does not contribute to the development of good neighbourly relations and to the pledges for sharing common European and democratic values,” the President’s cabinet press release reads.

In late April, Athens banned a Macedonian plane full of passengers from entering its airspace due to Greek objections to the carrier's name, Macedonian Airlines, MAT.

Greece says Skopje's use of the name Macedonia implies its territorial claims over Greece's northern province of the same name.

Greek-Macedonia relations hit a new low in April after Athens vetoed Skopje’s invitation to join NATO arguing that the country should change its name first.

The name row has been ongoing for 17 years and United Nations-sponsored talks have failed to produce a breakthrough.

Crvenkovski was invited to attend the Athens summit by his Greek counterpart Karolos Papoulias and the UN cultural organisation, UNESCO's director Koichiro Matsuura, who is co-organising the event.

A Huge Victory and a Huge Shame

The Sunday national vote brought a huge victory for ruling VMRO, but also a huge embarrassment for Macedonia.The numerous violent incidents which took place on election day, and even cost human life, pushed the country back on its European path

The Sunday national vote brought a huge victory for ruling VMRO, but also a huge embarrassment for Macedonia.

Macedonia failed to organize free and fair elections, said all international observers. The numerous violent incidents which took place on election day, and even cost human life, pushed the country back on its European path.

In the gravest incident of the day, a man was shot dead in a fire exchange between a group of activists of the opposition Democratic Union of Integration (DUI) of Ali Ahmeti and the special police unit Alfa, in the village of Aracinovo near Skopje. Reportedly, the shooting and car chase started after the police had tried to intervene and prevent voting irregularities.

In another incident, at least five persons, some of who bystanders, were injured in shooting in front of a polling station in Cair, part of Skopje. One of them, a 23-year old man, took a bullet in the stomach and is fighting for his life.

Police arrested Agim Krasnici, a known offender close to the ruling Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) of Menduh Taci, together with several other men, after they stopped them in cars full of machine guns and bombs. They also had a rocket launcher and seven packs of marihuana. The detained reportedly said they were on a mission to prevent vote stealing by opponent DUI.

Around 30 persons overall have been detained in relation to incidents on Sunday.

Aracinovo, sul luogo della sparatoria

Election irregularities included the usual group voting, stealing, “packing” or destroying of ballot boxes, and intimidation of voters. In some places incidents were taking place in front of the very eyes of international observers and the diplomatic core in the country.

“People felt proud of the fraud they committed and this is what shocked us most as observers. They didn’t hide”, said US Ambassador to Macedonia, Ms. Gillian Milovanovic.

Throughout Monday Macedonia was subject to the synchronized rebuke by the international factor. The bottom line is – the country failed the test.

OSCE ODIHR gave its preliminary assessment yesterday: Macedonia failed to meet the international standards in free and fair elections.

By and large incidents took place in the Albanian camp, between arch-rivals DUI and DPA, and were limited to several communities notorious for high crime rates, but this is still a lousy excuse for the country.

“You need to take every effort to prosecute not just the perpetrators but also the initiators of the violence”, said the European Union Ambassador to Skopje, Mr. Ervan Fuere.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski had a phone conversation with Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn yesterday and promised him every effort to have the rerun, in the places where voting had been suspended due to irregularities, free and fair.

As much as Macedonia had clearly failed, the international factor underscored the final assessment would also depend on how the country deals with the irregularities and how it completes the rerun, where needed.

“We will observe your efforts to deal with the incidents. This will be the focus of our attention and the final report will depend on what is being done in the period until and during the rerun”, said ODIHR chief Mr. Robert Barry.

Sostenitori del VMRO

Beyond the shame which will follow the country for some time to come, and will definitely reflect in the European Commission’s progress report this autumn, the elections as predicted brought a landslide victory for ruling VMRO.

The VMRO coalition led by Prime Minister Gruevski won 64 seats in parliament, out of the total of 120. This means that Mr. Gruevski is looking ahead to 4 more years of stable majority in parliament.

A victory of this magnitude is unprecedented in Macedonia’s short history of political pluralism. The VMRO coalition won around 480.000 votes, or around 170.000 more than in the 2006 elections, when it also carried victory.

The opposition party in the Macedonian camp, the social democrats (SDSM) won 28 seats.

In the Albanian camp, to some surprise with respect to the poll predictions, DPA and DUI came out even, with both winning 13 seats. Polls have been predicting a steady lead for DUI.

One seat went to Albanian PDP, and 1 to the multiethnic Party for European Future (PEI) of Mr. Fiat Canevski.

Some changes in the mandates are to be expected with the rerun in two weeks time, but they cannot be substantial.

The turnout at around 58% was around 3 percent higher than in 2006.

Mr. Gruevski got exactly what he wanted from these first ever early elections in Macedonia - a more stable majority which would allow him to proceed with his program. He will also have to deliver. In his own words, but also everybody else’s, with great power comes great responsibility.

Mr. Gruevski would likely want to form a coalition with his traditional Albanian partner, DPA. This would mean 4 more years in opposition for DUI, which originally insisted on having an early vote.

In 2006 DUI won the majority in the Albanian camp but VMRO chose to form a government with DPA instead, their traditional partner. This angered DUI and caused a political crisis.

It is to be expected that both DPA and DUI would fight hard in the rerun for the vote that is still to be accounted for. If DUI would prevail, it could again claim that it is the legitimate victor of the Albanian vote. DPA would definitely try to prevent this. This might cause further incidents. It better not.

Macedonia already lost a lot in these elections.

Macedonian poll 'unsatisfactory'

Violence and allegations of rigging meant Macedonia's election on Sunday fell short of international standards, foreign observers say.

At least one person was killed in gun fights that broke out in ethnic Albanian areas.

The fighting cast a shadow over the vote, in which Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski won a convincing victory.

Correspondents say the violence and poll disruptions may have undermined Macedonia's EU and Nato aspirations.

Election officials said with nearly all the votes counted, the prime minister's VMRO-DPMNE party had about 47% - more than twice the support for the Social Democrats, who had taken 23%.

It appeared this would be enough to give the party a parliamentary majority, without relying on other parties for coalition support.

'No free vote'

However, observers said they could not give the poll a clean bill of health.

"Key international standards were not met," said monitors for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

"Organised attempts to violently disrupt the electoral process in parts of the ethnic Albanian areas made it impossible for voters... to freely express their will."

In the Albanian stronghold of Aracinovo at least one person was killed and more than 20 were arrested following shootings between rival parties or with the police, and election officials closed a number of polling stations amid reports of intimidation and fraud.

Ethnic Albanian rebels fought an insurgency in 2001, demanding more rights for their community, which makes up about a quarter of Macedonia's population - but now the two main ethnic Albanian parties are bitter rivals.

"In most parts the vote was fair and democratic, but sadly in one part there were irregularities," Prime Minister Gruevski said.

"I will do everything in my power to have a re-run there so each and every MP is elected fairly," he added.

New polls were expected to take place within weeks.

EU concerned

Mr Gruevski aims to make Macedonia, a former part of Yugoslavia, a member of the European Union and of Nato. He called the election two years early, hoping to strengthen his hand and introduce reforms towards this end.

However, the EU said it was worried by the conduct of the poll.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn "is very concerned about the violence that occurred during the elections", his spokeswoman said.

She said the re-runs would be watched closely and the EU hoped to see "peaceful and orderly conduct of voting".

EU enlargement commissioner regrets violence in Macedonia

European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said here Monday that he regretted deeply the violence that marred the parliamentary elections in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

"I take note of the OSCE/ODIHR preliminary findings on the elections which took place yesterday, in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia," he said in a statement.

"I deeply regret the violence which marred the elections" on Sunday, "A day which should have been a peaceful demonstration of democratic values resulted instead in the loss of a life as well as injury to several people," he said.

Rehn quoted the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission as reporting that that key international standards were not met in the election.

"Organized violence, intimidation and ballot stuffing in many places prevented citizens from exercising their democratic rights. The selective application of the law by the state authorities was also a serious concern," he noted.

Rehn urged the Macedonian authorities to "address these findings and the recommendations which shall follow" and "to duly investigate all reported incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice."

He welcomed Macedonian Prime Minister Nicola Gruevski's commitment to hold a re-run of the election in all the polling stations where there was violence and disorder.

"It is imperative that these re-runs are held in line with international standards," he said, promising that the EU was firmly committed to the European perspective of Macedonia.

He stressed that holding free and fair elections "is an essential part of the political criteria of the EU accession process."

Macedonia's Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski won a landslide victory on Sunday in the country's first early election since the country gained independence in 1991.

The VMRO-DPMNE party led by Gruevski had won 48.13 percent of the votes, far ahead of the Social Democrats' 22.19 percent, with votes from 82 percent of polling stations counted, according to the state electoral commission.

The Democratic Party of Albanians led by Menduh Thaci garnered 10.13 percent, while the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Independence got 11.26 percent.

Macedonia, keen to join the EU and NATO, is seeking to launch talks on EU entry and an invitation to join NATO.

Country name dispute with Greece aborted Macedonia's bid to join NATO in April, when NATO invited Croatia and Albania to join in Bucharest, Romania.

Albanian rivalries now main worry for Macedonia

The bullet-scarred walls of this village outside the Macedonian capital are a reminder of how close the former Yugoslav republic came to full-scale ethnic war in 2001.

Twin white minarets rise from its unfinished mosque and a large illuminated cross stands on the mountain overlooking nearby Skopje, where Christian Macedonians and Muslim Albanians co-exist.

Aracinovo, however, is an all-Albanian community and a shootout in which one man was killed over voting irregularities during a parliamentary election on Sunday had nothing to do with ethnic hostility.

Seven years after NATO and the European Union engineered the withdrawal of separatist guerrillas from Aracinovo, witnesses say the shooting was more to do with the internecine violence that permeates Albanian politics.

For while the 2001 conflict pitted ethnic Macedonians against ethnic Albanians, this latest violence involves Macedonia's two rival Albanian parties, which are separated by a gulf of enmity and distrust.

On Sunday, a man with a Kalashnikov told voters at one Aracinovo polling station to go home, because it was already closed. That was just after the station opened, and his men were inside stuffing the ballot box, say Albanian party sources.

Police named him as Agim Krasniqi, a guerrilla turned crime lord with his own fiefdom in the hills to the north.

Such violence and divisions among Albanians are a problem for Macedonian conservative leader Nikola Gruevksi, who won a convincing majority in the election and needs to restore his country's image to keep it on a path to the EU and NATO.



TOP PARTY

This year has been difficult for Macedonia. The Albanians of neighbouring Kosovo declared an independent state, and Macedonia was denied the stabilising effect of an invitation to join NATO due to a dispute with Greece over its name.

Western powers are anxious. They managed to persuade Macedonians and Albanians in 2001 to pursue prosperity as citizens of a stable, multi-ethnic state anchored to the West, in the chronically turbulent Balkans.

In that year, Macedonia's Social Democrats and the party of former guerrilla leader Ali Ahmeti signed the Ohrid Agreement extending greater rights to the country's 25 percent Albanian minority. They made a coalition pact. Peace was restored.

Five years later, Ahmeti's party again garnered the lion's share of Albanian votes in a parliamentary election but Macedonia's victorious conservatives surprisingly turned to his smaller rival, led by Mendhuh Thaci, to form the new coalition.

Sunday's violence, involving a figure reputedly close to Thaci, showed Thaci was not fit for government, said an Ahmeti spokesman. Thaci says Ahmeti's 2001 'war' was only about grabbing power, not Albanian rights.

"Thaci almost produced the bloodbath he had promised, with the help of the Interior Ministry and Alpha Units," the Ahmeti spokesman said, referring to an elite police unit involved in the shooting.

But Ahmeti's party had once again beaten Thaci's, he said, and it would renew its claim to a place in the next government as the strongest representative of the national minority.

Prime Minister Gruevski's efforts to keep Macedonia on the path to EU and NATO membership could depend on securing the support of an Albanian partner who can guarantee peace.

But either Thaci or Ahmeti seem destined to end up in opposition and, with weapons in plentiful supply, the loser may see instability as offering greater political potential than loyalty.

As the upsurge of fighting in 2001 showed, the fastest way to provoke it is to attack the Macedonian police.

U.S. asks Macedonia to rerun elections in some areas

The United States urged Macedonia's government on Monday to rerun elections in areas where weekend voting was marred by violence and intimidation.

But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States would withhold judgment on the results of Sunday's vote -- which Macedonia's ruling conservatives apparently won -- until the final results were in.

"Quite clearly there were some very serious problems," McCormack told a news briefing.

"We would call upon the government of Macedonia to rerun elections in those districts where people were not able to cast their ballot free from threat of violence or intimidation, (and) to prosecute those responsible."

However, McCormack said Macedonia's bid to join the NATO alliance should still be able to go ahead, once the election problems were remedied and a dispute with Greece over the country's name was solved.

Election monitors criticized a failure to prevent violence in ethnic Albanian areas of Macedonia that killed one man and wounded nine others on Sunday. The monitors also noted instances of intimidation and ballot-box stuffing.

In rerunning the elections, Macedonia's government should "ensure that proper security forces are in place so that an election can take place in an environment where people are able to vote," McCormack said.

He said U.S. officials had spoken with Macedonia's government about the matter, and were confident Macedonia would move "quickly and effectively" to fix the problem.

The reported results would give the VMRO-DPMNE party of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski the healthiest majority in parliament in more than a decade, riding a wave of nationalist anger over Greece blocking Macedonia's NATO membership invitation in April.

Greece blocked Macedonia's bid to join the alliance because of long-standing dispute over the Balkan country's name, which is the same as that of Greece's northern province. Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged continued strong support for Macedonia's membership bid.

"I would expect that once the name issue is resolved, in the context of NATO, that their membership should be able to move forward," McCormack said, adding: " Of course, we would expect that they would remediate, effectively and quickly, this current situation."

Athens tight-lipped on FYROM election violence

There was no official comment from Greece last night on the violence and suspected irregularities that marred yesterday's parliamentary elections in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and prompted concern among Greek commentators about the potentially explosive situation in the neighboring country.

One person was shot dead and nine wounded in FYROM's ethnic Albanian areas and the electoral commission recorded instances of suspected fraud.

The government in Skopje responded by saying that voting will be repeated in 22 polling stations that were shut down yesterday because of violence or allegations of fraud.

Government spokesman Ivica Bocevski said that problems were reported at 1 percent of polling centers.

As of late last night, the government in Greece had not made any official statement, despite an array of commentators appearing on television to express concern at the situation developing in Greece's northern neighbor.

PASOK's spokesman for foreign affairs, Andreas Loverdos, suggested that some politicians in Skopje had fanned the flames by engaging in nationalistic rhetoric against Greece during their campaigns.

«We Greeks were serious and stayed away from dangerous brinkmanship. From tomorrow, we hope that prudence will prevail so that the necessary compromise solution [to the name dispute] can be found.»

Macedonians ‘Know Who is Behind Violence’

The public knows who is responsible for the pre-election violence in Macedonia, the United States ambassador to Macedonia argues.

However Gillian Milovanovic restrained from pointing fingers at anyone arguing that it would be counterproductive to do so just three days before the June 1 vote.

“I can not and I do not want to name the people who are causing incidents during the election campaign but the public knows who is responsible,” Milovanovic told local Alsat M TV.

The U.S. Embassy is not happy with how the police have handled the violence adding that the biggest victims far have been the ethnic Albanians.

Since the beginning of the campaign a series of incidents have taken place mainly in the rural north-west of the country which are largely populated with ethnic Albanians.

The media have counted nearly 30 incidents so far mainly involving attacks on local party headquarters of the main Albanian opposition party, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI.

The police arrested two for the May 12 shooting near the western town of Tetovo which the DUI leader Ali Ahmeti claims was an attempt on his life.

The DUI accused their bitter political rivals from the ruling Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA for orchestrating the violence. The DPA denied allegations of any involvement.

Senior European Union officials have set free and fair elections as one of the country’s benchmarks that will decide whether Macedonia gets a firm date for the start of EU accession talks this autumn.

On Sunday, nearly 1.7 million Macedonian voters will cast their votes in the first snap general election since the country’s independence.

Tetovo police deny involvement in pre-election violence

The Tetovo police chief Faik Dervishi denied any involvement by police in elections-related incidents.

The statement came after the opposition DUI claimed that Dervishi was involved in maltreating of local residents in Dobri Dol. Dervishi labeled the allegations a pure speculation and groundless discrediting campaign.

"The accusations raised by DUI's candidate for parliament Talat Xhaferi, which discredit the Tetovo Police Department and its chief, are nothing but anxious personal pre-election frustrations that missed the target. It is a political manipulation of the public in a bid to court the voters in the run-up to elections," says the media statement posted by Dervishi.

Macedonia: Ethnic Albanians protest vote violence

About 3,000 supporters of Macedonia's largest ethnic Albanian opposition party marched Thursday to protest violence during Sunday's national elections.

The Democratic Union for Integration, or DUI, said the peaceful demonstration in the capital, Skopje, also aimed to protest electoral "manipulation and illegitimacy."

Gunbattles and reports of ballot fraud in areas where the minority ethnic Albanians live prompted authorities to suspend voting in at least 22 polling stations on Sunday. One person was killed and eight were wounded in the fighting, which brought international condemnation at a time when Macedonia was trying to prove its credentials for European Union and NATO membership.

About 50 people have been detained over the last three days in connection with the violence and irregularities, while a court ordered at least 30 of them to be held for 30 days — including one policeman.

The election commission said reruns will be held June 15 in at least 25 polling stations, and the number could rise. The commission is reviewing 56 complaints from political parties.

The reruns could determine which of the two main — and bitterly opposed — ethnic Albanian parties will be invited into a governing coalition: DUI, run by former rebel leader Ali Ahmeti, or the Democratic Party of Albanians, run by Menduh Thaci.

Ruling Party Wins In Violence-Tainted Parliamentary Vote

Electoral Commission officials say that with 97 percent of the vote counted, Gruevski's conservative VMRO-DPMNE party won 48 percent of the vote. The opposition Social Democrats (SDSM) finished a distant second with 23 percent, followed by the Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) with 11 percent, and the Democratic Party of Albanians (dpa) with 10 percent.

The poll was marred by violence in the country's ethnic Albanian areas between supporters of the rival DUI and dpa. Authorities suspended voting in 22 polling stations due to allegations of fraud and intimidation.

Re-votes will be held in these precincts, which make up only a small portion of the electorate, but could affect the final balance between the two main Albanian parties.

In claiming victory, Gruevski also acknowledged the vote was far from problem-free.

"Now we can say that Macedonia's rebirth continues," Gruevski said. "I would like to congratulate all citizens for today's elections. In most polling places in Macedonia, we had fair and democratic elections. Unfortunately, in some areas, there were incidents and some irregular voting. VMRO-DPMNE and the Coalition for Better Macedonia will do everything in our authority to hold re-votes in these places so that every member of parliament will be chosen in a fair and democratic way."

Fueled By Anger Over Greece

Elections weren't expected until 2010. But analysts say that with a high approval rating, Gruevski was looking to seal four more years for his ruling coalition. Observers see his victory as fueled by anger over Greece blocking Macedonia's NATO membership invitation at the alliance's April summit in Bucharest.

Hundreds of the prime minister's supporters celebrated in central Skopje, waving flags and chanting Gruevski's name.

The leader of the opposition Social Democrats, Radmila Sekerinska, congratulated Gruevski, but added that due to the violence, "the price Macedonia had to pay was too high."

Macedonia is seeking to join the European Union, in addition to NATO, and the West is alert to any instability in the volatile Balkan country.

Sekerinska added that SDSM did well considering what she called its disadvantage in paid advertising.

"Even with a five-to-one disadvantage in paid political advertising on television, it was still possible to get citizens, one by one, to get on the side of [SDSM]," she said. "I would like to show them that this is a team that is moving forward. This is a team that says, 'That which doesn't defeat us will only make us stronger.' "

One man was killed and nine wounded in violence among ethnic Albanians on election day. Gunfire halted voting in one town. Ballot boxes went missing. Two election officials were held briefly by gunmen before being freed unharmed by police.

International observers are expected to present their assessment of the vote on June 2.

Animosity between the two ethnic Albanian parties has been intensifying since elections in 2006, when the DUI -- which won more ethnic Albanian votes -- were left out of Gruevski's coalition government in favor of the rival dpa.

Not Recognize Results

DUI leader Ali Ahmeti said due to the violence, his party would not recognize election results in seven municipalities, including in the main ethnic Albanian town of Tetovo. He also accused police of colluding with his rivals.

"I would like to underline that those criminal groups have had the support of police and state structures," he said. "So the state cannot avoid responsibility [for the violence]."

Dpa leader Menduh Taci, meanwhile, urged the DUI to recognize the election results. Taci addressed his supporters at a rally in Tetovo as music blared from loudspeakers, with supporters waving flags and shooting into the air.

"I think that DUI should recognize the results. I believe that in some places there should be a re-vote," he said. "I believe that from tomorrow we will have good relations with the opposition."

Gruevski's next task is to form a ruling coalition in the 120-seat parliament. The prime minister has said he prefers to continue his alliance with the dpa, despite the fact that it again finished behind the DUI -- a move which would further alienate that party's supporters.

Violence mars Macedonia poll

Macedonia's hopes of speedy Nato and EU membership were dealt a major blow when its parliamentary elections were hit by widespread violence.

At least one person was killed and several others wounded in gunbattles across the country.

The polling was also hit by allegations of fraud, intimidation and ballot box stuffing.

Most of the violence was between ethnic Albanians, whose two political parties have in recent years descended into a bitter feud. It forced Macedonia's electoral commission to suspend voting in up to 20 polling stations.

The bloodshed is a embarrassment for the Balkan nation, which came within a whisker of civil war in 2001. It was hoping flawless elections would prove its readiness to join the EU and Nato.

Instead, British MP Denis MacShane, who is an observer at the election, said results had been fatally compromised by the violence.

"No government can be formed as a result of this election," he said.

"New polls must be organised in all the districts where violence, intimidation and stuffing of ballot boxes have taken place."

The polls had been called two years early by conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski in the wake of Macedonia's failure to secure Nato membership earlier this year.

Greece blocked Macedonia's Nato bid in April, after the two countries failed to find a solution to their long running dispute over the name Macedonia.

Ancient Macedonia, the homeland of Alexander the Great, stretched over territory which now falls largely within the borders of Greece and its northern neighbour.

Shootings, Reports of Stolen and Stuffed Ballot Boxes Plague Macedonia Elections

Shootouts with police that led to at least one death and allegations of ballot fraud forced the suspension of voting in at least 20 polling stations Sunday, marring Macedonia's parliamentary election.

The ballot is seen as crucial to the Balkan country's hopes of joining NATO and the European Union, but the violence among rival ethnic Albanian parties and allegations of fraud threatened to derail the election.

Erwan Fouere, head of the European Union office in Macedonia, said he was "deeply concerned."

"We are entering now the critical hour ... before the polls close, and we have appealed to the government and the state authorities to do everything possible to prevent further violence," he told The Associated Press.

One person was killed and eight wounded in shootouts Sunday between rival ethnic Albanian groups or in standoffs with police, Interior Ministry spokesman Ivo Kotevski said. Thirteen people were arrested.

Voting was suspended in at least 20 polling stations — 1 percent of all polling stations in the country — due to irregularities or intimidation, elections commission spokesman Zoran Tanevski said.

The violence was concentrated in ethnic Albanian areas in Macedonia's northwest. Ethnic Albanians make up a quarter of Macedonia's 2.1 million people. Rebels fought a six-month insurgency in 2001 for more rights for ethnic Albanians but since then, a bitter rivalry has intensified among the minority group's political leaders.

Electoral commission chief Jovan Josifovski said voting was calm in most of Macedonia but "the incidents in the northwest region overshadowed expectations that we would have the best-organized elections ever and we could prove to Europe that Macedonia has the capacity to conduct a free and fair election."

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's center-right VMRO-DPMNE is seen as almost certain to win the early parliamentary election. A recent opinion poll gave his party 31.3 percent compared with the opposition Social Democrats' 11.2 percent. The 37-year-old needs a majority in the 120-seat parliament to avoid having to form a coalition government.

The most serious incidents Sunday were two shootouts with police near the former ethnic Albanian rebel stronghold of Aracinovo and two near the headquarters of the main ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration.

Kotevski said DUI supporters triggered some of the shootouts by firing on police. But Ali Ahmeti, the ex-rebel leader who is how head of the DUI party, said DUI supporters were retaliating against police-backed "criminal structures" targeting his party.

"What is happening ... is more than slaughtering," Ahmeti said as he voted in Zajas, 70 miles (115 kilometers) southwest of Skopje. "We tried to escape provocation, but unfortunately these criminal structures are backed by the police. The situation is quite dramatic."

The head of the rival Democratic Party of Albanians, Menduh Thaci, said it was "clear: DUI activists shot at police."

In Aracinovo, near Skopje, Kotevski said police were called in to help election officials prevent a man from voting on behalf of multiple people. DUI supporters fired on the officers when they arrived, Kotevski said. Two people were injured, and one later died at the hospital.

Another shootout occurred near the DUI headquarters in Skopje's Cair district. DUI spokeswoman Ermira Mehmeti told The Associated Press that "all of a sudden, huge shooting started." Ahmeti — who claims he was the target of an attempted assassination in Tetovo on May 12 — was not in the building at the time.

In a separate incident, gunmen fired at a police vehicle near the DUI headquarters, injuring five people, Kotevski said. And at a nearby polling station, a shootout between supporters of DUI and the rival Democratic Party of Albanians left another two people wounded, he said.

President Branko Crvenkovski appealed for calm.

"I want to express my hope that all this will end, that we will manage to calm the atmosphere and that we will end the day in a way that is suitable for a country with democratic potential," he said.

Voting also was suspended in Gurgurnica in the northwest after men showed up armed with machine guns. Polling stations in Malino, northwest of Skopje, never opened because ballot boxes were stolen overnight, the election commission said.

Voting also was halted in Ciflig because of ballot stuffing, and in Vrapciste, south of Tetovo, officials said.

In Tetovo, "no weapons" posters were prominently displayed at the entrance to a polling station. The EU and United States jointly had urged the government "to enforce a 'zero tolerance policy' for acts of violence or intimidation."

Clear winner in Macedonia vote, guns still in play

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski scored an overwhelming election victory on Sunday but the violence that marred the poll may perpetuate divisions and delay the country's progress towards European Union membership.

Gruevski's conservative VMRO-DPMNE party will have the healthiest majority in parliament in more than a decade, riding on a wave of nationalist anger over Greece blocking Macedonia's NATO membership invitation in April.

The victory vindicated Gruevski's controversial decision to call a snap election, gambling that the snub would strengthen his hand and pay off with a stronger four-year mandate.

But with one man dead and nine others wounded, some observers blamed Gruevski for ignoring the risk of violence among the 25-percent Albanian minority, divided between two hostile parties both with links to armed groups.

"We can expect a very bad report card," said analyst Dane Taleski. "We won't be getting a date for (EU) accession talks this year."

Though confined to Albanian areas, the violence could perpetuate a Western impression that, seven years after Macedonia was pulled back from the brink of all-out ethnic war, the Kalashnikov is still a part of the political process.

Newspapers ran headlines such as "Bloody Election" and "Macedonia fell into a bloodbath."

"Our fatherland said goodbye to good reason and to its EU and NATO ambitions," influential broadsheet Dnevnik said in an editorial. "If Athens vetoed us (at the NATO summit) in Bucharest, we vetoed ourselves in Aracinovo," he said.

Besides the gunfire, which halted voting in Aracinovo, ballot boxes went missing and two election officials were briefly held by gunmen, then rescued by police.

In 2001, the West used the lure of NATO and the EU to get Albanian guerrillas to disarm and join politics. But the community is now riven by disputes over who gets to share power.

The Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) blamed the rival Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) -- Gruevski's partners in the outgoing coalition -- of colluding with the police on Sunday in "provocations, violence and psychological terror."

They have been on bad terms since 2006, when the DUI, the most popular Albanian party, was left out of the government.

"HIGH PRICE"

Radmila Sekerinska, head of the opposition Social-Democratic Union, conceded defeat but said "the price Macedonia had to pay is too high."

The West is alert to any instability in the Balkans so soon after the February secession of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians from Serbia, the latest shudder in a region torn apart by the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

In an ominous echo of 2001, police in armored cars rushed to the bullet-scarred town of Aracinovo after monitors reported the arrival of men with machine guns. They came under fire and retaliated, killing one gunman and injuring two others.

But the DUI said plain-clothes police started the shooting. Among a dozen men arrested later was a notorious veteran of the "Albanian National Army" of 2001, who has links to the DPA.

"In most parts the vote was fair and democratic, but sadly in one part there were irregularities," Gruevski said, promising a re-run in all the areas where there had been trouble.

His next step will be to form a coalition to bolster his estimated 60 seats in the 120-seat assembly. He has said he would prefer an alliance with the DPA, a move likely to further alienate the large number of Albanians who voted for the DUI.

"Despite the violence and ballot-stuffing, we still have more deputies than the DPA," said senior DUI official Xhevat Ademi. "It won't be the first time they convert defeat into victory."

Macedonia poll marred by unrest

General election voting has been suspended in five areas of Macedonia amid unrest in which at least one person has been killed and more hurt.

There have been several shootings, including two in Albanian stronghold Aracinovo, where one person died when police clashed with gunmen.

The poll was called after Greece vetoed the former Yugoslav republic's attempt to join Nato because of its name.

Macedonia is also the name of a northern region of Greece.

Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski condemned the outbreaks of violence and reports of voting irregularities including stuffed ballot boxes.

"I want to express my conviction that we will succeed in calming the atmosphere and that we will complete the day as a country with democratic potential," he said in appealing for calm.

'Assault on democracy'

Denis MacShane, the MP who is leading the UK observer delegation, called the violence and disruptions, "an assault on democracy unacceptable in today's Europe".

He added: "No government can be formed as a result of this election. New polls must be organised in all the districts where violence, intimidation and stuffing of ballot boxes have taken place."

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski called the election in April hoping to secure an absolute majority for his centre-right VMRO-DPMNE party.

The parliamentary election had originally been scheduled for 2010.

His party promises not to change the name of the country under Greek pressure, to push on with reforms aimed at EU admission, to revive the economy and to tackle corruption.

Greeks say the name implies a territorial claim over its northern province and resent a perceived attempt to claim the heritage of Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great.

Kosovo question

The country's ruling coalition is also divided over recognising Kosovo as an independent state.

Around a quarter of the population is ethnic Albanian, like most of Kosovo.

The next government is likely to face strong pressure from the ethnic Albanian parties to speed up the country's recognition of Kosovo, the BBC's Helen Fawkes reports.

Sunday's vote could determine whether Macedonia joins both Nato and the European Union, most of whose members did recognise Kosovo when it declared independence in February.

Macedonia had been warned that any violence could harm its chances of integration with the West.

The election campaign had been overshadowed by violence between rival ethnic Albanian parties.

There have been shootings and grenade attacks on party offices

Recent opinion polls favoured the VMRO-DPMNE, suggesting it would take between 26% and 31% of the vote.

Its nearest rival, Radmila Sekerinska's Social Democrats, was given between 10% and 11% by the same polls.

One Dead in Macedonia Pre-Election Violence

A person was killed in one of several incidents in Macedonia over the weekend, amid ongoing rivalries between the country’s two main ethnic Albanian parties.

Baskim Rustemi, 42, from the village of Gajre, near the western town of Tetovo, died from stab wounds on Saturday night, after being involved in a quarrel with another man, police said. The identity of the killer is apparently known to police.

The Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA said Rustemi was a long standing member of the party.

Earlier on Friday, five activists from the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI , were beaten in the village of Kondovo near Skopje after trying to display party flags ahead of the election campaign which officially kicked off on Sunday.

The activists, who needed hospital treatment, claim they were beaten by members from the ruling DPA.

In a separate incident, a night club owned by a former DPA member, Fadil Arslani was torched in Tetovo. A club security guard was previously kidnapped and released shortly afterwards with his head covered and hands tied.

Arslani claimed his club was torched due to his recent association with the DUI.

Meanwhile the DUI party headquarters in the villages of Golema Recica and Kamenjane around Tetovo and Gostivar were shot at on Saturday night.

DUI accused the DPA for the incidents but the ruling party denied any connection.

The police have said the incidents are being probed. So far there have been no arrests.

Prior to the start of the campaign, all major parties signed a code pledging free and democratic elections.

European Union and NATO officials have said that the snap polls set for June 1 must be fair, so Macedonia can continue to deepen its Euro-Atlantic integration

During parliamentary elections in 2006, there were several incidents between the rival Albanian parties but international monitors assessed the procedure on a whole as fair and democratic.