European Forum

5 June Macedonia’s parliamentary elections

On June 5 Macedonians will vote for 123 legislators in six electoral districts. Three of the legislators will be elected from the diaspora, which is allowed to vote for the first time. More than 1.7 million people of a total population of about 2.2 million are eligible to vote.

Voters will generally choose between the nationalistic policy of the centre-right VMRO DPMNE, now in power for six years, and the Social Democrats’ pledges of economic reform and ending the current impasse with Greece, which is blocking NATO and the hope of EU membership. Since 2008, Macedonia has made no significant progress towards NATO and EU membership because Greece disputes the country’s name. Macedonia’s dilemma is either to reach an unpopular deal with Greece that would unlock the blockades, or risk a longer stalemate that will affect the country’s economic and political potential.

During the election campaign the most prominent scandal has been that journalists from the national A1 TV aired audio recordings of telephone conversations that they say prove the ruling VNRO DPMNE party plot. The recordings show that public administration employees were forced to provide lists of voters who they could guarantee would cast their ballot for the ruling party. In exchange the civil servants were guaranteed that they can keep their post or that their family or close associates will be employed

Prime Minister
Incumbent Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of the VMRO DPMNE and the candidate for Prime Minister of the Social Democratic Union (SDSM) Radmila Šekerinska have the most chance of becoming Macedonia’s new prime minister. The prime minister thus has the key word on whether to seek an unpopular compromise on the name issue at the UN-sponsored talks, or defend the country’s right to continue calling itself “Macedonia”, even if this results in Greece blocking its hopes of joining the EU too.

The voting system
In the general elections, the country is divided into six electoral units, each contributing 20 legislators to the 120-seat parliament. The diaspora, who have the right to vote for the first time this year, will have three seats. The parties propose lists of 20 candidates in each of the six electoral units. The more votes that a party wins in each of the six units, the more candidates from that lists enter parliament. The legislators’ term lasts for four years.

General elections
These are the seventh general elections since Macedonia became independent in the 1990s. The tradition so far since the 1990s is that after a full mandate in power, voters tend to switch to the opposition. However, opinion polls give the ruling VMRO-DPMNE a firm lead over the main opposition Social Democrats. Some political observers say a surprise result remains possible if the opposition can mobilize undecided voters, many of whom feel generally disappointed with all the existing political options. It will also determine the winner in the ethnic Albanian bloc. Albanians make up about a quarter of the population. The winner in this bloc usually ends in a coalition government with the winning Macedonian party.

Polls show that the governing Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, has the biggest chance of winning among Albanian voters. But the Albanian camp has been enlivened by the appearance of two new players. Alongside the established opposition Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, these elections see the debut of the National Democratic Rebirth party and another newcomer, the New Democracy Party.

BalkanInsight, SETimes.