How to Solve the Greek Dispute over Macedonia's Name

Following a winter of discord over the question of Kosovo’s independence, NATO heads of state convened in Bucharest in April, largely unified on the Balkans. The alliance was poised to invite three countries from the region to be new members: Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia. Like its neighbors, Macedonia had fulfilled NATO’s reform criteria. It had also met various political demands by Western powers concerning the country’s peace agreement between the majority ethnic Macedonians and minority Albanians. In addition, since 2003 Macedonia had continuously deployed troops to the US-led engagement in Iraq as well as to the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

As the summit began, President Bush proclaimed the “strong support” of the United States for Macedonia’s NATO bid. In contrast to the contentiousness over Kosovo, virtually the entire alliance backed an invitation for Macedonia. The lone exception was Greece because of its long-standing objection to Macedonia’s name.¹ But in the end, Macedonia was denied an invitation.

In the aftermath of Bucharest, NATO’s Secretary General visited Athens and Skopje, urging resolution of the problem by July so that Macedonia can be admitted to the alliance on schedule with Albania and Croatia. Unfortunately, the prospects for this are remote, in part because NATO unwittingly strengthened the Greek position at Bucharest. The truth is that few in Europe understand the seriousness of the dispute. They scoff at the prospect of tiny Macedonia launching an armed assault to recover the patrimony of Alexander the Great in Greece’s adjacent province that is also called Macedonia.

Trivializing the matter this way distorts the problem and saps the urgency required to deal with it. Identity clashes in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo were primary drivers of those conflicts. The identity stress in Macedonia is no less pernicious. In other words, it is not merely unfortunate that Macedonia did not get a bid to join NATO at Bucharest; rather, it throws into question the entire basis for Macedonia’s internal cohesion. By keeping the Macedonia question open, Serbia, Russia, and other countries can advance their agenda to keep other questions, including Kosovo’s final borders, open. Should Macedonia again descend into conflict, it would almost certainly not remain confined to its current borders.

The urgent task for Europe and the United States is to devise a strategy to deal with the name dispute. This requires understanding its dynamics. Both Macedonia and Greece see challenges to their identities and both have behaved irresponsibly, with Athens resorting to what the Greek scholar Anna Triandafyllidou calls “the strategic manipulation of nationalist feelings by Greek politicians.”² Clinging to a narrow majority and warily eyeing the far right, the conservative government led by Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis has been highly vocal about the name issue. However, the record shows that no matter which government is in power in Athens, its position is remarkably constant. In Skopje, the center-right government of Nikola Gruevski has blatantly exploited nationalist sentiment, taking the provocative step of re-naming the airport after Alexander. But there is a fundamental difference in approaches in the two countries: Greece objects to the Macedonian claims to the legacy of Alexander the Great, but Macedonia does not object to corresponding Greek claims.

This asymmetry yields great insight into the root causes of the dispute -- and how to resolve it. Greece is bothered not just by the name, but what the name represents -- an independent ethnic Macedonian identity. The mere existence of the neighboring nation state founded on national identity carries perceived existential risk for many Greeks. This explains why no amount of written assurances by Skopje can mollify Athens; it also helps explain why after 15 years of UN mediation, the matter has defied compromise.

Endangered Stability

In 2001, Macedonia nearly produced the fourth major conflict since the breakup of Yugoslavia. All the hallmarks of Balkan war were in place, including ethnic flight. In a few short months of fighting, nearly ten percent of the population was displaced. And as in neighboring conflicts, identity was a major factor in the struggle. Leaders of the substantial ethnic Albanian minority (about one-quarter of the population) demanded and won painful concessions from the Macedonian majority to use their language and fly the Albanian national flag. To this day, the provisions of the Ohrid peace agreement that deal with these issues are often contentious. To many Macedonians, the need to change their constitution in order to affirm the Albanian identity was an affront to their own national identity. It is axiomatic, then, that the more threats mount to their own identity, the less inclined Macedonians will be to continue to make concessions --not only on identity related, but in other, equally painful spheres -- to their Albanian partners.

No one knows this better than the ethnic Albanians of Macedonia themselves, who have wisely backed the Macedonian position on the name -- up until the Bucharest summit. According to a recent survey conducted in the wake of the NATO summit, the number of citizens opposed to changing the country’s name has dropped markedly. Analysts believe that this reflects a dramatic change in opinion among Albanians, almost all of whom now back concessions on the issue in order to enter NATO. The failure to enter NATO was a special disappointment for Albanians, for whom the American-led alliance holds both a security and emotive attraction. Many now resent having to pay the cost to protect symbols that mean nothing to them, but mean everything to the country’s majority.

Snubbed at Bucharest, resentment is building among Macedonians as well. Patriotic feeling among the majority Macedonians has hardened. In part, this is the result of calculation by the governing nationalist party, VMRO-DPMNE. Rather than work with the opposition to forge a common front on the name issue after Bucharest, the prime minister called snap elections to be held on June 1, leaving Macedonia barely a month to meet the July NATO deadline to join the alliance in concert with Albania and Croatia.

If the July deadline comes and goes without an invitation to join NATO, then Macedonia’s EU prospects are also dim. After all, Greece has an even more formidable position in the European Union than in NATO, where Macedonia at least can count on the support of the American superpower. This, too, has serious consequences for Macedonian stability. Steadily improving prospects for entering NATO and the European Union have been a primary motivating factor for the majority Macedonian community to embrace both the painful Ohrid concessions as well as the array of institutional reforms mandated by Brussels. With NATO (and EU) entry now formally hostage to Greek approval, the country is suddenly bereft of strategic orientation.

Not only Greek challenges, persistent Serbian challenges to the Macedonian church, and Bulgarian challenges to the Macedonian language and identity create anxiety about the permanence of the Macedonian state. Serbia, with strong Russian support and the backing of some European capitals, continues to mount stiff resistance to Kosovo’s independence. Belgrade and its allies know that many Albanians link Kosovo’s territorial integrity and that of Macedonia. Before Bucharest, the anxiety in Skopje was that Serb-inspired partition of Kosovo would prompt secessionist movement among ethnic Albanians in Macedonia. After Bucharest, the reverse is true: The Serbian-Russian agenda in Kosovo could be advanced by unrest in Macedonia for which the potential remains substantial. In short, any trend toward disintegration in Macedonia would have direct and unavoidable consequences for Kosovo.

The Greek Objection

The place to begin to understand the name dispute is not ancient, but rather recent history. In September 1995, just as the conclusive negotiations over the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina were to begin in Dayton, Ohio, American diplomats Richard Holbrooke and Christopher Hill negotiated an “interim accord” to end a Greek embargo against its neighbor, Macedonia. Among other things, the Macedonians pledged that their constitution contains no territorial claims on Greece. Moreover, they agreed to state that their constitution does not “constitute a basis for interfering in the internal affairs of another state in order to protect the status and rights of any persons in other states who are not citizens of [Macedonia.]”

This dry passage reveals a key piece of the puzzle: palpable Greek fear that the adjacent Macedonian state -- with an intact, distinct Macedonian identity -- will become a platform for Greece’s minorities to challenge the status quo. Under Greek law and practice, there are no ethnic minorities. Human rights groups like Human Rights Watch have documented systematic harassment and discrimination of those who attempt to express group or cultural rights. Anyone who doubts that such anxieties are the source of the problem need only read the words of Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis on the eve of the Bucharest summit:

Let me explain the problem as Greeks see it. When Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia changed the name of his country’s southern province in 1944 from Vardar Banovina to the Social Republic of Macedonia, he did it to stir up disorder in northern Greece in order to communize the area and to gain an outlet to the Aegean Sea for his country.

This policy was also linked with the Greek civil war that at the time claimed more than 100,000 Greek lives, brought untold destruction to our country, and delayed our postwar reconstruction for a decade.

The name ‘Republic of Macedonia,’ therefore, is not a phantom fear for us Greeks. It is linked with the deliberate plan to take over a part of Greek territory that has had a Greek identity for more than three millennia and is associated with immense pain and suffering by the Greek people. ³

The problem is not that Bakoyannis is hyping Greek fears; it is that she is conveying them frankly. The “deliberate plan” she describes is not military; it is anticipated, inexorable pressure to acknowledge the existence of the Macedonian minority in Greece.

The question is why does Greece find this so frightening? According to Greek scholar Triandafyllidou, the answer is in the very construct of the modern Greek nation state:

Since the achievement of national independence (1829-30), the Greek state has engaged in a process of construction in which its ethnic origins have been in remote antiquity. The historical trajectory of the nation has been traced in a linear form and without ruptures or discontinuities from antiquity to modernity. Thus, any changes which have marked the past and the history of the national community have been reconstructed in such a way that the nation is represented as a homogeneous and compact unit. ⁴

In other words, ethnic minorities, particularly those with competing claims to cultural totems, are incompatible with the Greek concept of nation- and statehood. The Macedonian minority is especially neuralgic for Greeks because it represents not only an imagined “outsider” or “invader” of the nation, but a very real adversary with whom Greeks clashed in living memory. As is clear from Bakoyannis’s article, anxiety about identity and territory have become fused in Greek consciousness, a legacy of the bitter Greek Civil War.

There are ample grounds for Macedonians to be bitter from that era as well. As Human Rights Watch writes, “ethnic Macedonian political refugees who fled northern Greece after the Greek Civil War of 1946-49, as well as their descendants who identify themselves as Macedonians, are denied permission to regain their citizenship, to resettle in, or even to visit northern Greece. By contrast, all of these are possible for political refugees who define themselves as Greeks.... Ultimately, the government is pursuing every avenue to deny the Macedonians of Greece their ethnic identity.” ⁵

Ironically, the only minority recognized by Greece is the Muslim (Turkish) minority in Western Thrace. The Lausanne Treaty of 1923 (and the associated mass population transfers) established the reciprocal rights of the Muslim minority in Greece and of the Greek minority in Turkey. Despite mass displacement and mass loss of property, more than half a century after the fighting there has been no corresponding arrangement to address claims and regulate the affairs flowing from Macedonian-Greek conflict during the Greek Civil War.

As for the Macedonians, their claim to identity is fundamentally different. Slavs did not arrive into the Balkans until many centuries after Alexander’s kingdom had expired. For Macedonians, the nexus to Alexander is not linear, but based on geography, something inherently shared with Greece and Bulgaria. While geography may indeed tempt some extreme nationalists in Macedonia to maximalist territorial ambitions, there is no serious claim to exclusivity of Alexander’s legacy.

Fixing the Mistakes of Bucharest

In sum, the name dispute is largely asymmetrical, with Greece laying exclusive claim to the Macedonian identity. Exacerbating the problem is another asymmetry: EU and NATO member Greece is substantially richer and more powerful than Macedonia. In the run-up to Bucharest, under US pressure to come to terms, Macedonia for the first time agreed to a different name for international use. It accepted UN mediator Matthew Nimetz’s “final proposal”: “Republic of Macedonia (Skopje)” as its reference for international use. However, Greece flatly rejected it.

To avert an outright Greek veto at Bucharest, allies inserted a paragraph in the final communiqué that lauded Macedonia’s “hard work and commitment” to NATO values and agreed to extend an invitation “as soon as a mutually acceptable solution to the ‘name issue’ has been reached.”⁶ To diplomats, the communiqué represented the best alternative to a direct summit confrontation, tacitly acknowledging that Macedonia has met the criteria for membership, and that -- following agreement with Greece over the name -- an invitation could be extended by a simple meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the level of ambassadors. In fact, by ignoring Greek undertakings, NATO handed Greece a victory.⁷ In Washington, the Greek ambassador exulted: “NATO endorsed our position at Bucharest....The requirement to solve the name issue is no longer a Greek position, it is now a NATO position and a multilateral matter,” he told an audience at Georgetown University.⁸

Already there are signs that Greece is mounting pressure on Macedonia to buckle and accept its position in advance of a European Commission decision on whether to recommend a date for accession talks this fall. And there are also signs that Athens’ position on the name has hardened as well. Sources with knowledge of the negotiations say that Greece is advancing its demands not only that the new name for Macedonia contain a geographical reference (like “Upper Macedonia”), but that this new name be used in all contexts. Athens’ position on “scope of use” may grow to include bilateral relations with other countries, and even Macedonia’s own internal use (for example, stipulating the use of “Upper Macedonia” on the Macedonian passport). Greece is also resisting Macedonia’s demands that its language and nationality be formally recognized by the United Nations.

There are only three possible outcomes for the dispute: continued stalemate; Macedonian capitulation; or Greek willingness to compromise. Continued stalemate is the most likely outcome because Greece faces no external cost to maintaining its position. Athens’ approach suggests that it sees little incompatibility with its substantial private investment in Macedonia and that country’s continued limbo status.

Macedonian capitulation to the Greek position would mean negating the Macedonian identity. As described above, this would pose serious complications to advancing the peace arrangement with Albanians. It also would only encourage related Bulgarian and Serbian assaults on the Macedonian identity, further straining the cohesion of the country.

Only a fair compromise, one that minimally protects the Macedonian identity while addressing the core Greek demand for a name change serves the cause of European stability. Given the disparity in power between Macedonia and Greece, UN mediation alone is unlikely to achieve this. And given the unwillingness of European capitals to take on the burden of confronting Athens, American leadership is once again essential. That means that NATO, where American influence is greatest, offers the best vehicle for success.

The solution, ironically, lies in embracing -- to the fullest extent -- the Greek assertion that the name dispute is now a multilateral matter. Rather than adopt a counterproductive tone of confrontation, the United States must rhetorically step to the side of the Greeks. Bringing along those allies aware of the risks for Kosovo and Macedonia, the United States should move to convene the North Atlantic Council (NAC) for an urgent session to accept the Greek interpretation of the Bucharest communiqué. But it should not stop there. The NAC must simultaneously ask the NATO Secretary General to provide a “full and complete report on all dimensions of the name dispute” within 30 days. The NAC resolution should cite the requirement in NATO’s founding document “for peaceful and friendly international relations” and related obligations in the charter of the United Nations (particularly on human rights). As a result, the NATO Secretary General will have to turn to an array of organizations and individuals, including the UN mediator, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and private organizations like Human Rights Watch.

In short, NATO would begin to move down the very road toward the examination of Macedonian minority rights in Greece that sits at the root of the Greek objection to Macedonia’s name in the first place. The Greek government would pay a heavy political price for such an outcome.

Of course, Athens will see through the ploy and either attempt to block it or veto. This will be complicated. First, a veto would put its interpretation of the summit communiqué in jeopardy. Second, as in Bucharest, Athens will be forced to accept the unenviable role of spoiler. Unlike in Bucharest, however, it will be deprived of the political benefit of standing up to the US president. The NAC ordinarily meets in obscurity, at the level of ambassadors. Furthermore, the draft resolution will be written to embrace the Greek position on the communiqué, not to humiliate or punish Athens. Third, if it vetoes, Athens will have to rue the costs of having to carry another permanent grievance within the alliance. Already it has the annoyance of constant Turkish objections to alliance meetings with the European Union in the presence of Greek-ally Cyprus. It will hardly boost its case by obstructing a reasonable provision to address the very dispute that it insists is an alliance matter.

In sum, the way out of the name dispute is to recognize both the seriousness of the problem and its root causes, and urgently devise a transatlantic strategy that addresses them. The problem is asymmetrical, both in terms of the Greek objection to the Macedonian identity, and Greece’s power relative to Macedonia. Only by introducing the full dimension of the problem, including the question of the Macedonian minority in Greece, will Athens have an incentive to compromise -- and will more instability be averted.

Edward P. Joseph is a visiting fellow at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C.

1) France, which counts on Greece for consistent support on ESDP and its bid for a “Mediterranean Union,” supported Greece in its objections to Macedonia’s entry under its name.

2) A. Triandafyllidou, M. Calloni, and A. Mikrakis, “New Greek Nationalism,” Sociological Research Online, vol. 2, no. 1 (1997).

3) Dora Bakoyannis, “The View from Greece,” International Herald Tribune, April 1, 2008.

4) “New Greek Nationalism” (see fn. 2).

5) Ibid.

6) Bucharest Summit Declaration, issued by the Heads of State and Government participating in the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Bucharest on April 3, 2008, paragraph 21.

7) In late April, Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski wrote UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon alleging that the Greek veto at Bucharest amounted to a “flagrant violation of Article 11 from the Interim Accord, according to which, Greece has legally undertaken not to object to Macedonia’s admission to international organizations.” Crvenkovski also noted that Greece’s position “could have long-term destabilizing consequences in the region of south-eastern Europe.” Reported in various Macedonian print media on April 22, 2008.

8) Ambassador Alexandros Mallias speaking publicly at Georgetown University, April 15, 2008.

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.

Greece ‘Must Accept Macedonian Identity’

Greece has to accept the existence of a Macedonian nation and language for a quick deal in the ongoing ‘name’ row, Macedonia’s Foreign Minister says.

“Unfortunately their acts do not give us much hope or optimism that Athens is motivated to reach to a reasonable solution,” Antonio Milososki told the BBC’s Macedonian service.

If a solution to the long standing name row is reached prior to July 9, Macedonia could catch up with Albania and Croatia in its efforts to join NATO.

On July 9, Albania and Croatia, the other two countries of the Adriatic Charter will sign the NATO accession protocol.

Greece blocked Macedonia’s invitation to join the alliance in April because of the unresolved row.

Athens argues that Skopje’s use of the name Macedonia could lead it to make territorial claims over Greece’s own northern province of the same name.

On Sunday shortly after Milososki’s party, the centre-right VMRO DPMNE, was reelected by winning a landslide victory in snap polls, the Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis urged Skopje to quickly resume talks on the dispute.

The long running United Nations-sponsored talks have been stalled due to Macedonia’s early general election.

The last UN proposal “Republic of Macedonia-Skopje” was accepted in April by Macedonia while Greece rejected it.

Gruevski: No deadline for Kosovo recognition

Macedonia has no deadline to recognize Kosovo and will not make a decision about this under anyone's pressure, Grueski, whose VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition triumphed in the Sunday vote, winning more than half of all seats in the new Macedonian parliament.

When Beta news agency's reporter in Skopje asked the Macedonian premier how the government plans to withstand pressure from the two ethnic Albanian parties to immediately recognize the unilateral secession, he answered that his government "does not make decisions under pressure".

"Pressure, and strong pressure at that, existed, but Macedonia has her state interests, policy, arguments, partners, there's the EU and NATO. We are not indifferent to pressure, but we do not make decisions under it," Grueski explained.

Asked to explicitly say whether there was a deadline for Skopje to make the recognition, he answered, "there are no deadlines".

As for the controversial border demarcation with Kosovo, envisaged under the Ahtisaari document, but rejected by Belgrade, he said Macedonia could have ended this ahead of schedule, but that it was his feeling that "the other [Kosovo Albanian] side is not overly interested".

Belgrade's request to be included in this process, Grueski said, is not up to Macedonia to consider, because his country "is not a factor that can independently make a decision on this", but that, "if the international community decides to, it will be put up for consideration".

Asked to appraise the situation in the region in the context of election violence in Macedonia, a likely deterioration of relations with Serbia in case of a Kosovo recognition, and Serbia's problems putting together a new government, Grueski said that the Balkans has always been turbulent, and continues to be such today.

"There are always goings-on in the Balkans that baffle western politicians and analysts. We must try to reduce the number of such occurrences and events and to, through mutual understanding and tolerance, intensively prepare for Euro-Atlantic integrations, in other words, for EU and NATO membership," he said.

The Macedonian prime minister added that his government was unsure which of the possible cabinets in Serbia – a Radical or a Democrat-led– would prove to be a better partner.

"I don't know which one we would cooperate better with, since we know one [side] well, unlike the other. Still, since our government is strongly oriented toward Euro-Atlantic integrations, any cabinet in Serbia along the same lines will be our partner that we will have more understanding for," Grueski told the news agency.

Reacting to yesterday's Kosovo assembly speaker Jakup Krasniqi's comments that Macedonian elections were not free and that the ballot's results should be annulled, the Macedonian prime minister said that although he did not hear this statement earlier, "if it proves to be correct, it comes from people who have insufficient knowledge of the Macedonian circumstances , and myself as premier".

Gruevski stressed that trouble during the voting over the weekend, that included several shooting incidents and one fatality, occurred "only on two percent of the territory" and in ethnic Albanian regions of the country, and voiced hope that revotes in some polling stations in two weeks' time will be conducted peacefully.

The prime minister also addressed Macedonia's long standing dispute with Greece over the country's constitutional name. Although his party's coalition will have the absolute majority of 64 seats in the Sobranie – Macedonia's parliament – this is an issue to be solved through a joint platform of the government and the opposition, he said.

"The solution to the name dispute is not only up to us, but to Greece also. In theory, Greece can keep its veto on Macedonia's NATO membership for as long is it wants, but this is not good for Greece, either, as the alliance's member."

"Greece can keep asking for new conditions, but we will not accept a solution that would jeopardize our national identity," Grueski concluded.

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".

Scenarios for Macedonia after election

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski won re-election on Sunday but monitors criticized violence that marred the poll and could delay the country's progress towards European Union membership.

Here are some scenarios for what could happen next in the country, which broke peacefully from Yugoslavia in 1991 but came close to full-scale ethnic war 10 years later.

RE-VOTE

- Western election monitors described the election as flawed but said violence and fraud were limited to ethnic Albanian areas. Their decision to defer judgment on the entire election until after repeat votes in troubled areas gives the country some breathing space, but will also require the government and Albanian parties to overcome rivalries and work closely to ensure a smooth, peaceful re-run.

COALITION TALKS

- Gruevski will seek an ethnic Albanian party as his coalition partner, partly to strengthen his majority in the 120-seat assembly and partly in the spirit of a 2001 peace deal that sought to enfranchise Albanians and bring them into the political mainstream. His partner in the outgoing coalition, the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA), has been compromised by reports of violence and fraud targeting their competitors for the Albanian vote, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI).

A repeat alliance with the DPA would be an easy option for Gruevski but could cast a shadow over the legitimacy of his government. It would take more effort and concessions for him to ally with the DUI, which holds a grudge for being left out of government in 2006.

EU REACTION

- Before the vote, Brussels said the election was a test Macedonia must pass to start European Union accession talks. The reserved verdict of the monitors gives some room to the EU, which would be reluctant to sink the country's hopes of an imminent start to talks for fear of creating more instability.

The next progress report on Macedonia is due later this year, and its tone could depend on several variables: the regional situation, especially the outcome of coalition negotiations in Serbia and the mood in newly-independent Kosovo, the level of tension in the country itself, and the willingness of Greece to defer until later its threatened veto on Macedonia's EU progress for the sake of stability.

NAME DISPUTE WITH GREECE

- By handing Gruevski's conservative VMRO-DPMNE party the healthiest majority in parliament in over a decade, voters effectively mandated him to hold firm in the 17-year row with Greece over Macedonia's name.

Polls show ethnic Macedonians would refuse to give up their identity and change the name which the country shares with a neighboring Greek province. Ethnic Albanians are urging a compromise with Athens to avoid more snubs like the blocking of Macedonia's NATO bid in April.

Gruevski will have to walk a fine line between catering to the patriotism of his core voters and playing hardball that could exasperate the West and anger Albanians.

ECONOMIC MALAISE

- Macedonia was the poorest republic of the former Yugoslavia and remains behind in terms of attracting foreign investment, partly due to the general image of the Balkans as unstable but mainly because its progress towards EU membership depends as much on Greece as it does on its own efforts.

The Sunday violence may cause some investors to pause and reconsider any business plans for the country, at least until the dust settles and the EU gives a firm, promising signal.

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."

PDP announces merger with DPA

The Party of Democratic Prosperity (PDP) announced today in Tetovo merger with the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA), Makfax's correspondent reported.

The news was made public by the parties' leaders Adbuljadi Vejseli and Menduh Thaci, pointing out that "the oldest political subject in the country is consigned to history."

The initiative came after the two parties concluded that they would garner more seats in the new parliament if they joined forces.

"Today, we set out a new initiative for unification of the two political parties - PDP and DPA. It will happen very soon, perhaps within days, therefore, DPA and its leader Menduh Thaci are welcome to use our votes," Vejseli said.

"We have a joint initiative for merging of these two parties. I believe the parties' bodies would make positive decisions. Everything is clear," Menduh Thaci added at a joint press conference.

PDP was formed in 1990 as the first party of the Albanians in Macedonia. In February 1994, Arben Xhaferi's faction broke off to give birth to the Party of Democratic Prosperity of Albanians. The new political subject was registered in 1995, to change its name into Democratic Party of Albanians in 1997.

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.»

Athens on FYROM poll violence

Greece officially commented on Sunday's violence-plagued general election in the neighbouring Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) a day later, with the foreign ministry again emphasising Athens' policy of ignoring much of the nationalistic rhetoric aired during the pre-election period in the landlocked former Yugoslav republic over the recent period.

"Greece, throughout the entire period, carefully and critically monitored and assessed developments in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia," foreign ministry spokesman George Koumoutsakos said, adding:

"We share the international community's conclusions over the (violent) incidents, the irregularities and, overall, the democratic deficit that characterised the holding of yesterday's (Sunday) elections ... Beyond this, Greece now expects the continuation of the negotiating process, under the United Nations' auspices, with the representative of the government that will be formed in Skopje, in order to achieve a mutually acceptable solution to the 'name issue' for the benefit of peace, stability and cooperation in the region," he stressed.

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.

Security concerns halt voting in Macedonia

Macedonia's parliamentary election was marred by suspected fraud and violence in ethnic Albanian areas on Sunday, undermining Skopje's attempt to show the EU it was mature enough to start membership talks.

One person was shot dead, nine were wounded and voting was halted in one town after a gun battle. The electoral commission noted instances of suspected fraud and irregularities such as broken or missing ballot boxes and stolen voting materials.

Two of its local officials in the ethnic Albanian Tetovo area were briefly detained by an unknown armed group before being rescued unharmed by police, the commission added.

"I have to express my regret and worry that after the 2006 elections, which were overall evaluated as very good, this year we have bad elections," said commission chief Jovan Josifovski.

The ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) leader, former guerrilla commander Ali Ahmeti, blamed the rival Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) and the police for "provocations, violence and psychological terror".

"What happened today is a black mark on Macedonia," he said.

The two parties are bitter rivals for the vote of the 25 percent Albanian minority. They have been on bad terms since 2006, when the DUI, which won most of the Albanian votes, was left out of a coalition government in favour of the DPA.

The violence is the worst since the end of the 2001 rebellion, when all-out ethnic war was averted by the West using the lure of NATO and the European Union to secure more rights for Albanians and get guerrillas to disarm.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the United States embassy in Skopje both issued statements expressing concern and calling for restraint. Before the vote, Brussels had said the election is a test Macedonia must pass to start EU negotiations.

The West is worried by any signs of 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

REPEAT VOTE

The situation appeared to have calmed down by the time polls closed at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT). Turnout was around 46 percent by 5 p.m. (1500 GMT)

"The situation in the country overall is stable," Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski told reporters. "The incidents are small in number and mostly in ethnic Albanian areas. There will certainly be a repeat vote in those areas in two weeks."

Gruevski's conservative VMRO-DPMNE party is expected to win the vote on a surge of nationalist defiance after Greece blocked Macedonia's NATO bid in April in a 17-year row over the name it shares with a Greek province.

Gruevski's government, which will likely have to include a partner from the ethnic Albanian parties, will be asked to get NATO accession back on track, start EU membership talks and calm tensions among the rival Albanian factions.

Weeks of minor armed incidents between the Albanian parties during the campaign led authorities and NGOs to engage an estimated 6,000 local and foreign monitors.

The violence on voting day began soon after polls opened.

Scuffles broke out in several Albanian areas and a small explosive device was thrown at an empty cafe. Near Skopje, voting was stopped in the town of Aracinovo after a gun battle.

Police said officers went to the town after local monitors reported the arrival of men with machine guns. They came under fire and retaliated, killing one gunman and injuring two others.

The DUI said the incident was initiated by plain-clothes police.

"They stopped our convoy and shot one round in the air, it was chaos, we got out from the cars and tried to flee," DUI official Shefik Duraku told Reuters.

In Skopje's Cair neighbourhood, another shooting took place outside a polling station. One DUI official was in critical condition and five other people were wounded, police said.

At least 10 people have been arrested in connection with the violence. They included Agim Krasniqi, a commander of the guerrilla Albanian National Army in a 2001 rebellion who remained active after a peace deal was reached.

Greek journalist, cameraman detained in Skopje

A journalist and cameraman with the Greek Antenna television were detained in Skopje on Saturday.
Mariana Pirgioti and Angelos Misirlis were first detained by representatives of a private company, who asked the Greeks for ID documents and called the police. The police arrested the two for five hours.
The journalist and cameraman had to hand their camera and recordings. The explanation was that the U.S. asked for the equipment and materials.
Greece has undertaken the necessary actions so that the two are released.

Shootings marr Macedonian's parliamentary election

Shootings that led to at least one death and allegations of ballot fraud forced elections officials to suspend voting in at least 17 polling stations Sunday, marring the start of Macedonia's early parliamentary election.

The election could prove crucial to this Balkan country's hopes to join NATO and the European Union. But even before the polls opened, the campaign was tainted by violence among rival ethnic Albanian parties and claims of fraud, with international monitors recording more than a dozen pre-election attacks.

The most serious election day violence occurred in the former ethnic Albanian rebel stronghold of Aracinovo, near Skopje, where two separate shootings at least one person dead.

Two party supporters were wounded during a shootout with special police, and one later died of his injuries, said Ermira Mehmeti, spokeswoman for the main ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration.

Villagers told reporters that trouble began when one person tried to vote on behalf of multiple people.

Police cordoned off the village and the State Election Commission said voting was suspended in eight polling stations in Aracinovo. Earlier in the day, the commission had received reports of broken ballot boxes in the village.

Mehmeti also reported gunfire near the party's headquarters. She said party members inside the building took cover in the basement but the party's leader, ex-rebel leader Ail Ahem, was not in the building at the time.

On May 12, gunmen had shot at Ahmeti's car as he campaigned in Tetovo, wounding a bystander in what he described as an assassination attempt.

Voting also was suspended in Gurgurnica near Tetovo in the country's ethnic Albanian northwest after men appeared armed with machine guns. Polling stations in the village of Malino, northwest of Skopje, never opened Sunday because ballot boxes were stolen overnight, the commission said.

It said voting also was halted in the village of Ciflig near Gostivar in the northwest because of ballot stuffing, and in Vrapciste south of Tetovo.

Ethnic Albanians account for about a quarter of Macedonia's 2.1 million people. In 2001, rebel forces from the National Liberation Army fought a six-month insurgency against government forces in a bid to win more rights for ethnic Albanians.

Authorities had said a record number of police would be deployed for the vote, especially in volatile ethnic Albanian areas.

In Tetovo, "no weapons" posters — similar to no smoking posters, only with an image of a gun — were prominently displayed at the entrance to a polling station.

The European Union and United States called on Macedonia "to enforce a 'zero tolerance policy' for acts of violence or intimidation," and said in a joint statement Saturday that "there must be an end to impunity for offenders who break the law, tarnishing this country's democratic credentials."

On the eve of the election, Radmila Sekerinska, leader of the Social Democrats, said the appearance of misleading campaign posters mimicking her own and voter lists with names almost identical to those on her own list was "a scheme aimed at transferring some of the votes from our list to the governing list."

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's center-right VMRO-DPMNE is seen as almost certain to the election being held two years early. A recent opinion poll gave his party 31.3 percent of the vote compared with the Social Democrats' 11.2 percent.

But it is unclear whether the 37-year-old leader will be able to win a majority of parliament's 120 seats and avoid having to resort to a coalition to form a government.

The new government will face a formidable task.

It must conclude protracted and bitter negotiations with southern neighbor Greece over Macedonia's name — a dispute that led to the country being blocked from joining NATO at an alliance summit in Bucharest in April, triggering a crisis that led to Gruevski calling the snap polls two years ahead of time.

It must also ensure that a date is set for the start of EU entry negotiations, and calm tensions among ethnic Albanians, as well as decide on whether to recognize its northern neighbor Kosovo as an independent country and conclude negations on delineating their shared border.

Gruevski called the snap poll shortly after a political crisis exacerbated by Greece's veto on Macedonia's NATO aspirations at an alliance summit in Bucharest. Much of his campaign has focused on national pride and the name issue.

Greece refuses to allow Macedonia to join NATO or the EU unless it changes its name, which Athens says implies claims on its own northern province of Macedonia.

Macedonia - US agreement on May 7

Macedonia and United States wil sign the bilateral military-technical agreement on May 7 in Washington. This agreement had been announced after the Greek veto on the eve of NATO summit in Bucharest.

"Agreement will be signed on May 7th, between Macedonian foreign minister Antonio Milososki, and US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, in Washington, said Macedonian Ambassador to the US, Zoran Jolevski, in an interview for Voice of America - Macedonian service.

Ambassador Jolevski was not able to answer on details about the agreement, as it is still being worked on by experts and institutions from both sides.

Italy supports Macedonia for quick EU and NATO entrance

New Italian Government will do everything in its power for Macedonia, along with Croatia, to soon join the European Union, Italian MEP Marcello Vernova said Thursday in Skopje after meeting Vice-Premier Zoran Stavreski.

- Silvio Berlusconi is Nikola Gruevski's great friend and the new Italian Government will support Macedonia on its road to the EU, NATO. New Foreign Minister Franco Frattini is also Macedonia's friend. Berlusconi will urge Sarkozy, Merkel and Aznar to support Macedonia and recognize the excellent results achieved by Gruevski's Government in meeting the European criteria, Vernova said, adding that a new group of Italian businessmen will visit Macedonia next month.

For Vernova, Macedonia is a prosperous country with a stable government, economy - something that attracts Italian businessmen to invest in the spheres of their interest, such as energy, environment, real estate and tourism.

Vernova announced that the new Italian Government would grant financial support to Macedonia for modernization of the public administration.