This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/16/north-macedonia-social-democrats-election-victory

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
North Macedonia's Social Democrats grab slim election victory North Macedonia's Social Democrats grab slim election victory
(about 1 hour later)
Party now faces wrangle to form coalition government in run-up to EU accession talksParty now faces wrangle to form coalition government in run-up to EU accession talks
North Macedonia’s Social Democrats eked out a razor-thin win over nationalist rivals, according to official election results, highlighting deep faultlines in a country preparing to start EU membership talks. The pro-western Social Democrats leader, Zoran Zaev, has declared victory in crucial elections in North Macedonia, saying the win paves the way for the Balkan state’s integration with Europe.
The vote on Wednesday was the first parliamentary election since the Social Democrats added “North” to the Balkan country’s name last year – a move that ended a decades-old dispute with Greece but was highly controversial at home. The former prime minister appeared before a cheering crowd in Skopje, the capital, early on Thursday after an overnight count showed his Social Democratic-led coalition defeating the centre-right opposition by a slender margin. With 94% of ballots counted the Social Democrats had received 36%, less than two percentage points ahead of its close rival.
The accord ushered the Balkan state into Nato and opened the door to future EU membership. “You are winners, be proud. Progress has won,” Zaev told ecstatic supporters, who were surrounded by party officials wearing protective masks.
But critics are still bitter about conceding part of their identity to appease Athens, which claimed exclusive rights to the name Macedonia for its own neighbouring region. The 45-year-old leader, who has promised to impose policies to fast-track the country’s EU accession hopes, called the poll in January after the bloc initially refused to launch membership talks with the former Yugoslav republic.
Lacking an outright majority with only 35.8% of the vote, the centre-left Social Democrats will now face coalition talks that could drag on for weeks in an attempt to form a government. Much had hung on the election, held amid surging coronavirus infection rates and the first since the nation agreed to change its name – adding a geographical qualifier of “north” to Macedonia to appease Greek fears of territorial designs over its own province of Macedonia.
This could postpone stable leadership at a time when coronavirus infections are surging and the country’s already weakened economy is heading towards a pandemic-triggered recession. Zaev had been the architect of the Prespa accord struck with Athens’ leftist Syriza government two years ago, which ended the naming dispute.
If the Social Democrats fail to form alliances, the rightwing VMRO-DPMNE, just behind with 34.5% of the vote, according to the state election commission, would get a chance to build a government. With the election victory secured by a mere 10,000 votes, a period of political horse-trading will follow. A workable coalition can only be formed with 61 seats in the 120-member parliament. Parties representing the country’s large ethnic Albanian minority, which accounts for nearly a quarter of its 2.1 million population, have emerged as kingmakers.
That party is formally pro-EU but has been critical of the name deal, lambasting it as “treason”. “It was a very tight race and we’re looking at lengthy negotiations between all the parties to assemble a government,” said Nenad Markovikj, a professor of political science at the Saints Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, who expressed surprise at the relatively high turnout of 51% given the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Our path to progress is confirmed,” the Social Democrat leader and former prime minister, Zoran Zaev, told supporters in a victory speech. The narrow victory will likely exacerbate polarisation over the controversial name deal, which the opposition opposed.
“The citizens went out and voted for a clear future, for unity and solidarity, for economic patriotism, for law and order and to choose better present and a better future,” he said, adding that his camp had a three-seat advantage in the 120-member assembly. “There is huge frustration that Zaev won,” Markovikj said. “Political polarisation over the Prespa agreement is likely to be even higher now. But if there was a chance to dispute it, and remove Zaev from power, it was this election. The accord is the Social Democrats’ child. It will now be solidified because they were more inclined to defend it and with it euro integration.”
At the opposition headquarters, the VMRO-DPMNE secretary general, Igor Janusev, said the vote still showed “people want change”. International officials monitored the election, which had been postponed since April due to the pandemic. Infections have soared in the landlocked state since restrictions were lifted, with authorities reporting more than 8,500 cases and 393 deaths as of Wednesday. Special provisions were made for about 700 people, either stricken with Covid-19 or in quarantine, to vote ahead of the poll. Elderly people and prison inmates were also permitted to cast ballots in advance.
Despite the first-place finish, the Social Democrats fared worse than in the previous poll in 2016, when they ended VMRO-DPMNE’s nearly decade-long rule. Many of the estimated 1.8 million eligible voters who have left North Macedonia and form part of the nation’s European diaspora were unable to return because of coronavirus.
There was a perception that beyond the progress with the EU talks, the party had “not delivered on some of the key promises, including justice reforms”, said Elena Stavrevska, a political scientist at the London School of Economics. Zaev had faced a strong challenge from the populist VMRO-DPMNE party, whose leader, Hristijan Mickoski, has sought to move the party to the centre right since replacing its disgraced and exiled former leader Nikola Gruevski.
Low wages, high unemployment and widespread corruption have also been gnawing away at public faith in politics for years. The Social Democrats’ victory was welcomed by western observers based in Skopje amid hope it will help facilitate the country’s embrace by Europe. Moscow, which has long been accused of meddling in the region, had backed nationalist forces in North Macedonia.
“We have had enough of promises, now it is time for progress,” said 70-year-old Dimitar Sumkovski, a voter in the capital Skopje. “Zaev managed to win the elections despite changing the name of the country,” said Eva Ellereit, the resident representative of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung German political foundation in Skopje. “Voters clearly want to see what he can put together now and how he can continue the pro-European reform agenda. The results are humbling but clear: the citizens of North Macedonia want to start accession talks with the EU, they do not want to return to the nationalist confrontations of the 1990s.”
The elections were held to replace a caretaker government that took over when Zaev stepped down six months ago after the EU’s initial failure to open accession talks – a promise Brussels had made in exchange for the name alteration and other changes.
The bloc later gave the green light in March, although Skopje is still waiting for a date to start formal negotiations.
Analysts predicted “difficult” coalition talks and a weak government. “We are going into a period of hard party negotiations and I think the government won’t be as stable as it was expected,” said Nikola Spasov, a political analyst.
The Social Democrats’ top options for partners are parties representing the ethnic Albanian minority, who make up about 25% of the 2 million population.
The Democratic Union for Integrity (DUI) was ranked third with about 12% of the vote, followed by another rival Albanian camp with about 9%, according to the election commission.
DUI, the traditional kingmaker, has this year demanded its candidate be named prime minister in exchange for any alliance.
Zaev and the leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, have previously rejected the proposal as “blackmail”.
With nearly 400 deaths from Covid-19, the land-locked country has the highest per capita fatality rate in the western Balkans, according to official data.
Masks were mandatory at polling stations, which closed later than normal to allow for social distancing. Those infected with the virus were allowed to cast ballots earlier in the week, as were elderly and infirm people.