Macedonia's conservatives win parliamentary, presidential elections
Macedonia – Macedonia’s incumbent prime minister claimed a landslide victory late Sunday in parliamentary and presidential elections, but the centre-left opposition denounced what it called distorting interference in the democratic process by the ruling party and said it won’t recognize the results.
Macedonia's conservative ruling party has secured a third term in office, winning both parliamentary and presidential elections on Sunday, based on preliminary results of the ballot that the opposition said it would not recognize.
"I can say that our fatherland is in safe hands. Nikola Gruevski remains prime minister and I can also say ... that Gjorge Ivanov remains president," Vlatko Gjorcev, a senior VMRO-DPMNE party official, told reporters and jubilant supporters late on Sunday.
Gruevski, 43, has ruled the landlocked former Yugoslav republic of 2 million people since 2006 in coalition with ethnic Albanian party DUI.
With more than 63 percent of the votes counted, VMRO-DPMNE was leading with 43 percent, compared with 24 percent for the main opposition party, the center-left SDSM, the state electoral commission said.
The DUI had captured 14 percent, setting the ruling coalition on course for a comfortable majority in the new parliament.
SDSM leader Zoran Zaev accused Gruevski and his party of "abusing the entire state system", saying there were "threats and blackmails and massive buying of voters".
"A few minutes after the polls closed, I'm here to say that SDSM and our opposition coalition will not recognize the election process, neither the presidential nor the parliamentary," Zaev told reporters in Skopje.
Gruevski's party immediately dismissed the opposition allegations as an attempt to manipulate public opinion.
"These have been the most peaceful elections so far," said Antonio Milosovski, a senior VMRO-DPMNE official.
"Although there were attempts by the opposition to show these elections as inefficient, the people did not allow that, they did not allow to be taken in by the manipulative scenarios from the opposition," he said.
Monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe will present their findings later on Monday, after the state electoral commission publishes the results.
“Macedonia had peaceful, fair and free elections. Macedonia is the biggest winner. We can be proud,” Gruevski told a crowd of cheering supporters at party headquarters.
With 91.7 per cent of the votes in the parliamentary election counted, the conservatives led with 43.2 per cent, while the Social Democrat-led leftist alliance had 24.9 per cent, according to the State Election Commission website.
The ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integrations, or DUI, the conservatives’ partner in the outgoing government, was credited with 13.8 per cent, while their main rival, the Democratic Party of Albanians, had 5.9 per cent.
Turnout was 62.9 per cent.
In the election for the largely ceremonial office of the president, the conservative-backed incumbent, Gjorge Ivanov, led with 55.7 per cent, while his Social Democrat rival Stevo Pendarovski had 40.5 per cent, with almost 92 per cent of the cast ballots counted. The turnout for the presidential runoff was 54 per cent.
There were indications the ethnic Albanian minority had, as in the first round, largely boycotted the presidential vote. Ethnic Albanians make up a quarter of Macedonia’s 2.1 million people.
Gruevski said he hoped his party would get 62 seats in parliament, the exact number required for an outright majority. He added that the Social Democrats would get 34-35 seats.
Official results on seats will be announced Monday.
Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev claimed shortly after polls closed that Gruevski’s conservative government had unfairly used state resources to influence the campaign for his own re-election and that of his political ally, Ivanov.
Zaev said civil servants were pressured to vote for the ruling conservatives or face losing their jobs.
“The government has once again usurped the democratic rights of citizens,” Zaev said, calling for an “immediate establishment of (a) technical government that will conduct parliamentary and presidential elections.”
Gruevski’s VMRO-DPMNE immediately rejected the opposition claims, saying “Macedonia has had the most peaceful and democratic elections ever.” Senior party official Antonio Milososki accused the opposition of “manipulation” and “provoking incidents.”
Nearly 1.8 million voters were eligible to cast ballots at more than 3,500 polling stations.
Macedonia's conservative ruling party has secured a third term in office, winning both parliamentary and presidential elections on Sunday, based on preliminary results of the ballot that the opposition said it would not recognize.
"I can say that our fatherland is in safe hands. Nikola Gruevski remains prime minister and I can also say ... that Gjorge Ivanov remains president," Vlatko Gjorcev, a senior VMRO-DPMNE party official, told reporters and jubilant supporters late on Sunday.
Gruevski, 43, has ruled the landlocked former Yugoslav republic of 2 million people since 2006 in coalition with ethnic Albanian party DUI.
With more than 63 percent of the votes counted, VMRO-DPMNE was leading with 43 percent, compared with 24 percent for the main opposition party, the center-left SDSM, the state electoral commission said.
The DUI had captured 14 percent, setting the ruling coalition on course for a comfortable majority in the new parliament.
SDSM leader Zoran Zaev accused Gruevski and his party of "abusing the entire state system", saying there were "threats and blackmails and massive buying of voters".
"A few minutes after the polls closed, I'm here to say that SDSM and our opposition coalition will not recognize the election process, neither the presidential nor the parliamentary," Zaev told reporters in Skopje.
Gruevski's party immediately dismissed the opposition allegations as an attempt to manipulate public opinion.
"These have been the most peaceful elections so far," said Antonio Milosovski, a senior VMRO-DPMNE official.
"Although there were attempts by the opposition to show these elections as inefficient, the people did not allow that, they did not allow to be taken in by the manipulative scenarios from the opposition," he said.
Monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe will present their findings later on Monday, after the state electoral commission publishes the results.
“Macedonia had peaceful, fair and free elections. Macedonia is the biggest winner. We can be proud,” Gruevski told a crowd of cheering supporters at party headquarters.
With 91.7 per cent of the votes in the parliamentary election counted, the conservatives led with 43.2 per cent, while the Social Democrat-led leftist alliance had 24.9 per cent, according to the State Election Commission website.
The ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integrations, or DUI, the conservatives’ partner in the outgoing government, was credited with 13.8 per cent, while their main rival, the Democratic Party of Albanians, had 5.9 per cent.
Turnout was 62.9 per cent.
In the election for the largely ceremonial office of the president, the conservative-backed incumbent, Gjorge Ivanov, led with 55.7 per cent, while his Social Democrat rival Stevo Pendarovski had 40.5 per cent, with almost 92 per cent of the cast ballots counted. The turnout for the presidential runoff was 54 per cent.
There were indications the ethnic Albanian minority had, as in the first round, largely boycotted the presidential vote. Ethnic Albanians make up a quarter of Macedonia’s 2.1 million people.
Gruevski said he hoped his party would get 62 seats in parliament, the exact number required for an outright majority. He added that the Social Democrats would get 34-35 seats.
Official results on seats will be announced Monday.
Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev claimed shortly after polls closed that Gruevski’s conservative government had unfairly used state resources to influence the campaign for his own re-election and that of his political ally, Ivanov.
Zaev said civil servants were pressured to vote for the ruling conservatives or face losing their jobs.
“The government has once again usurped the democratic rights of citizens,” Zaev said, calling for an “immediate establishment of (a) technical government that will conduct parliamentary and presidential elections.”
Gruevski’s VMRO-DPMNE immediately rejected the opposition claims, saying “Macedonia has had the most peaceful and democratic elections ever.” Senior party official Antonio Milososki accused the opposition of “manipulation” and “provoking incidents.”
Nearly 1.8 million voters were eligible to cast ballots at more than 3,500 polling stations.
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