Bakoyannis: Greece to block Macedonia's EU entry talks

Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis made it clear that Greece would definitely block the opening of EU accession talks with Macedonia.

"We made clear and they are aware that there can be no Euro-Atlantic prospects unless the name dispute is resolved, because it's a foundation for good neighborly relations," Bakoyannis told Greek media.

She added that Greece would not allow Macedonization of its foreign policy given that there are much important issues.

"Such an attitude cannot produce a solution. Nikola Gruevski carries the sole responsibility for hindering the Euro-Atlantic prospects of Skopje," Bakoyannis said. /

Greece and Macedonia start post war

Post services in Macedonia and Greece have started a real war, Macedonian Sitel television reports. The two services have denied fulfilling the post services between each other. Athens has send the letters at which has been writ7tem Macedonia and Skopje has returned the letters with the explanation that there has been no country named FYROM.

Recognition of Kosovo by Macedonia not far: DUI leader

The recognizing of Kosovo by Macedonia is a solved issue, the leader of the Democratic Union for Integration /DUI/ Ali Ahmeti said in an interview for the Macedonian TV channel Alsat-M.
According to Ahmeti the decision for the recognizing itself would come after three problem moments related to the demarcation with Kosovo were solved. He added that they were technical problems.

100,000 Macedonians on vacation in Greece in August

Since the start of the year, the Macedonian-Greece border was crossed by over 500,000 Macedonian citizens. 100,000 of them went to Greece over the past twenty days, for summer vacations.

In July this number was 57,000, and in the first half the number was down by 18 percent compared with last year.

The price of an average summer apartment in Greece is EUR 30-50, while higher quality accommodation costs EUR 70 per night.

It is 18 percents less citizens than in the same period last year when a total of 947,000 Macedonian citizens passed the border.

According to Angel Ivanov, president of the Association of Travel Agencies of Skopje, main reason for this is the reduced prices for vacations in Greece in the postseason.

- It is obvious that our citizens would like to use the lower prices offered now. Following the emotional reaction during the preseason, the main motive for the people in this period is the economic bill – Ivanov explains.

These days, many travel agencies offer arrangements for vacation in Greece for the price of EUR 100 per 10 or 7 days with transport included.

According to travel agencies from Gevgelija, the available arrangements of their agencies in places Paralija, Nea Vrasna, Asprovalta, Olimpijada, Leptokaria are completely sold out for August and September.

Head of Macedonian diplomacy extend his rights

The head of Macedonian diplomacy had extended his rights, Macedonian Utrinski Vesnik newspaper reports.
Ministry of Interior Act, which had been passed two years ago, had been implemented, which means not that diplomacy will have party membership but also centralization of Ministry of Interior’s role, the newspaper reports. One of the main implementations has been the decrease of the percentage of the ambassadors, which will be chosen by the professionals in the Ministry of Interior.

Gruevski’s letters

“Macedonian President Nikola Gruevski had sent letters to several international institutes but he hasn’t expect any answers. He had already known them or he had heard them many times. They were not so good, Georgi Spasov, former secretary of Macedonian Social Democratic Union and former ambassador of Macedonia in London had written in an article, published in Macedonian Dnevnik newspaper.
“These letter looks like the activity of the communists from Nikšić. When the forces of the Warsaw Pact, had occupied Czechoslovakia one organization of the Communists Union from Nikšić, Montenegro had organized a meeting of the management. There head been two points in the agenda: considering of the situation after the occupation of the Warsaw Pact forces in Czechoslovakia and the second one was about many different things. After the debate it had been decided that the Warsaw Pact forces would withdraw.

Macedonia Ministers Face ‘Toilet Paper Fines’

Macedonian Ministers would be fined up to €1000 if they do not provide enough toilet paper in the ministry buildings they run.

It is a warning issued by the government as it introduced a freshly prepared bill on public hygiene.

Heads of public institutions will also be held responsible and face fines climbing up to €500 if the buildings where they work lack waste bins or hand dryers in toilets.

Penalties up to €150 are foreseen for people caught throwing litter or spitting on the street.

So-called ‘public sergeants’ will be recruited for monitoring hygiene in public properties, the government said. Police officers will also have right to issue penalties on the spot.

People caught littering could replace their penalties with community service, the bill envisages.

The average salary in the country is roughly just over €250 so the Government hopes that the draconian fees will encourage people to act more responsibly.

Another robbing of Komercijalna Banka

Two masked bandits robbed a branch office of Komercijalna Banka located in the Skopje's District of Jane Sandanski on Friday morning.

This is the second armed robbery of a branch office of the same bank in two days, after yesterday's holdup in the branch office in the District of Gjorce Petrov.

According to unofficial information, today's incident took place at about 10:00 hrs, when several clients were present in the bank's premises.

Police teams have already conducted an inspection at the site. The amount of stolen money and other details are expected to be revealed soon.

Komercijalna Banka robbed for a second time in two days

Two masked bandits robbed Friday morning a Komercijalna Banka branch at Jane Sandanski boulevard in Skopje's Aerodrom settlement.
Thus far, there are no immediate information on the amount of money that were taken away. At the moment, police teams are investigating the site.

Moreover, a branch of Komercijalna Banka was also robbed yesterday in Skopje-based Gjorce Petrov settlement. Three masked robbers, armed with guns, stormed the bank taking away about 2.600.000 denars from the Bank and another 80.000 denars from the bank's customers. Afterwards, they fled the scene in an unknown direction.

Mystery surrounds Barbara's death

Eighteen years old Barbara Lazarova, died on Sunday at 22:00hrs at Skopje's Nephrology Clinic. The director of Nephrology Dr Aleksandar Sikole says doctors have a diagnosis, however are waiting for the autopsy results.

"The kidneys were damaged, the heart, blood, brain damages... It's the law to make an autopsy in this case because it is very unusual for a young woman to have such serious complications with so many of her organs." says Dr. Sikole.

Barbara had been admitted at the Skopje Clinic on July 29th with diarrhea and a fever like temperature. The doctors did not get an indication that Barbara had menninghitis. It's not clear yet, what caused the poisoning, however 'spoilt meat' is the primary suspect. Barbara had eaten meat at a Budva Restaurant, and later drank water from a fountain outside.

Monetengro Authorities have performed inspection at the restaurant where Barbara ate, however the inspection was done two days after the incident was reported!

The owner of the Restaurant says it was impossible for the food poisoning to have come from his Restaurant. Serbian Media had also written of menninghitis cases in Podgorica and Danilovgrad, but Montenegro denied this.

Barbara's parents have blamed Montenegro in part for not helping her at their Hospitals. Barbara had been charged 80 euros for her hospital visit in Budva, and later was charged 100 euros for a 30km taxi ride. This slowed down Barbara's return to Macedonia, because she had waited money from her parents so she could come back.

The Macedonian Government has issued Alert for all citizens traveling to a different country.

- Consume water from bottles only.

- Consume foods that are kept on safe temperatures

- Double wash any vegetables or fruits.

Macedonia Opposition Resumes Boycott

Macedonia's main opposition Social Democrats will stay outside parliament due to the 'ignorant attitude' of the parties in power, their leader claims.

Radmila Sekerinska said her announcement follows the apparent non-transparent adoption of a parliamentary rulebook that was voted by the majority led by the centre right VMRO-DPMNE last week.

“What happened last week with the voting of the rulebook over night, without any debate, proved us right,” Sekerinska told media. “The ruling majority does not want a different opinion. They want the obedient raising of hands without even reading the bills and that is why they will stay without the participation of the opposition.”

The party presidency was deciding last evening whether to end their boycott which began last Thursday when their vice president Zoran Zaev was arrested in front of television cameras under charges of misuse of office in the south eastern town of Strumica where he is a mayor.

The court decided not to detain Zaev but the Social Democrats claimed that the whole case was a provocation by the parties in power. Zaev was mentioned as one of the possible successor's to Sekerinska after she announced she was stepping down over the party’s crushing defeat at the June 1 general elections.

The European Commission however criticised the Social Democrats for their boycott of Parliament and asked for their return.

If the Social Democrats keep up their action, the parliament will practically be left without any opposition lawmakers as last week, the main ethnic Albanian opposition, the Democratic Party of Albanians also left the assembly arguing they will return when the issues concerning greater rights for their community are addressed properly.

In June the ruling centre right VMRO DPMNE-led coalition beat the Social Democrats by winning 63 deputy seats while the Social Democrats alliance secured only 27 out of the 120 parliament seats.

Macedonian court convicts 17 ethnic Albanians over massive weapons cache

A Macedonian court convicted 17 ethnic Albanians on Friday over a huge weapons cache seized last year in the country's restive north, near Kosovo.

The Skopje district court found the defendants guilty of weapons possession and belonging to a terrorist group, presiding judge Lidija Nedelkovska said, announcing the ruling.

The court jailed one man for 12 years, and imposed 10-year terms on another 12. Four alleged group masterminds were convicted in absentia and each sentenced to 15 years in prison. Macedonian authorities have issued international warrants for their arrest.

The weapons were seized in November 2007, during an operation to capture Lirim Jakupi, an ethnic Albanian former rebel who escaped from prison in Kosovo.

Jakupi escaped but police arrested the 13 defendants in and around the mountain village of Brodec, where they discovered laser-guided anti-aircraft missiles, artillery pieces, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, sniper rifles, assault rifles, and other weapons.

Six suspected extremists were killed in gun battles with special police officers.

Brodec, in the volatile area at Mountain Sara, was the center of an 2001 uprising by ethnic Albanian rebels.

Ethnic Albanians make up about a quarter of Macedonia's 2 million people.

Albanian gunfight in Macedonia wounds several people

About 10 people were wounded in an overnight shootout between supporters of rival ethnic Albanian political parties in north-western Macedonia, a Macedonian police source said on Friday.

The gunfight took place in the village of Radusa, near the border with newly-independent Kosovo.

"We are still figuring out what happened exactly," the police source told Reuters.

Macedonia came to the brink of all-out ethnic war in 2001 but the lure of NATO and the European Union persuaded Albanian guerrillas to disarm and join the political process.

The 25-percent Albanian minority is divided between two opposing parties -- the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) and the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) -- both of which have links to armed criminal groups.

Violent clashes between the two parties were a major blight on Macedonia's parliamentary election last month, raising doubts about the country's stability and its EU accession prospects.

The police source said it was unknown which of the two groups started the fight. "Three people were seriously wounded, all of them are in hospital," the source added.

A source from the DUI party told Reuters one of the wounded is the son of a party MP, former guerrilla commander Rafiz Aliti.

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".