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Macedonian premier Nikola Gruevski wins election | |
(1 day later) | |
Macedonia's Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski looks set to take office for a third term after his conservative party won parliamentary elections. | |
Mr Gruevski's VMRO DPMNE party won 39% of the vote. The rival Social Democrats conceded defeat, after winning 32.7%. | |
However, Mr Gruevski will need to form a coalition to govern the small Balkan state for another four-year term. | |
The country faces high unemployment and a flagging economy. It is hoping for eventual EU and and Nato membership. | |
But those aspirations have been blocked by Greece because of a 20-year-long name dispute. | |
'Grandiose projects' | |
Greece has a province called Macedonia, and says the country cannot use the same name. | |
The International Court of Justice is expected to make a decision on the issue later in the year. | |
The snap election was called after the opposition Social Democrats walked out of parliament in January in protest at what they called a politically motivated crackdown by the government on pro-opposition TV station A1. | |
It was the latest in a growing list of grievances the opposition had against the government. | |
They accused Mr Gruevski of spending millions on grandiose building projects, when one in three Macedonians lived below the poverty line and some 32% of the population was out of work, the Associated Press reports. | |
Mr Gruevski insisted his government had managed to preserve a stable economy and largely avoided the worst effects of the global economic crisis. | |
Analysts say Mr Gruevski is likely to link up once again with his coalition partner, DUI, which won 10.2% of the vote. | |
DUI represents Macedonia's ethnic Albanian minority, which makes up about a quarter of the population. |
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