Macedonia prime minister concedes defeat
2006-07-05

Category NATO European Union Nations Macedonia Albania

Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski conceded defeat Thursday to the nationalist opposition in Macedonia's parliamentary elections, a vote considered crucial for the tiny Balkan nation's aspirations to join the European Union and NATO.

Sounding like a winner, Nikola Gruevski thanked his VMRO-DPMNE party supporters and said he would begin efforts to put together a coalition on Friday.

"The top priority of the government will be integration into the EU. Our government will focus on improving the economic situation, to fight corruption and crime and raise the standard of living," he said.

With 36 percent of the ballots counted, the VMRO-DPMNE party had 33 percent of the vote, while Buckovski's ruling Social Democrats had 24 percent, according to preliminary results released by the State Electoral Commission.

"I called Nikola Gruevski to congratulate him with his election victory," Buckovski told his supporters in a televised speech just after midnight. Gruevski, a former finance minister, was quick to claim victory, with pledges to get to work on repairing the economy.

The tense electoral campaign was marred by violence -- including shoot-outs and a grenade attack -- between supporters of rival ethnic Albanian parties that left at least three people wounded.

But Wednesday's voting passed off peacefully, and the prime minister cheered it as a "victory for Macedonia" despite his apparent loss.

"We have said that we will be satisfied if we have a free and peaceful election, if we pass this test. We had an exceptionally good election and this is victory for Macedonia," Buckovski said.

Past polls have been marred by irregularities, and President Branko Crvenkovski had urged a free and fair vote in a country struggling to ease tensions between majority Macedonian Slavs and the ethnic Albanian minority, which makes up about a quarter of the nation's population.

Parliament recently tightened voting rules and imposed severe penalties for ballot-rigging.

After the VMRO-DPMNE declared victory, hundreds of its supporters poured into the central square of the capital, Skopje, waving party flags, singing and playing traditional Macedonian instruments. Celebratory gunfire rang out across the city.

The VMRO-DPMNE, which led Macedonia's government from 1998-2002, has sought to moderate some of its hard-line positions, pledging more cooperation with the nation's ethnic Albanians. Its defeat in the 2002 election threw the party into chaos, resulting in the departure of some of its more radical leaders.

Party spokesman Vlatko Gjorcev said its representatives monitoring the vote at polling stations had tallied 51 percent for the party, giving it 55 seats in the 120-member parliament.

Without a majority, Gruevski would have to form a governing coalition.

During Buckovski's premiership, the European Union accepted Macedonia as a candidate for membership, but the bloc has not set a date for entry negotiations. Macedonia hopes to join NATO in 2008 and the EU in 2012.

Buckovski's multiethnic ruling coalition came under fire for failing to provide jobs and improve living standards. Fifteen years after Macedonia split peacefully from Yugoslavia, the economy remains stagnant and unemployment stands at a crippling 36 percent.