Skopje Sets Date For Early Elections In December

BELGRADE - Macedonia's (FYROM) political parties have agreed to hold early parliamentary elections on December 11 in an effort to resolve an 18-month-long crisis.

The agreement was reached after a U.S. and EU mediated meeting in Skopje on August 31, RFE/RL reports.

In the six-hour meeting, the heads of the governing conservatives, the main opposition Social Democrats and two ethnic Albanian parties, also agreed on forming a cross-party body to monitor the electoral campaign.

The Balkan country has been in political turmoil since February 2015, following a wiretapping scandal in which the conversations of thousands of people were monitored.

Holding early elections was part of an internationally-brokered deal aimed at defusing the crisis.

According to the deal, lawmakers need to approve a caretaker government 100 days before the December elections.

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