Macedonia Faces Uncertainty over New Government

Political observers suggest that after the Sunday's polls almost ended in a dead heat, a renewal of the past government coalition between the main ruling VMRO DPMNE and its junior ethnic Albanian partner, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI - although technically possible - is very unlikely.

On the other hand they see little chance that the main opposition Social Democrats, SDSM could gather all Macedonia's ethnic Albanian parties under one roof in a possible government of their own.

Both of these options lead to a conclusion that the country may have to repeat the elections in near future to resolve the current gridlock. The next opportunity is in May, along with the local elections.

All options look like 'mission impossible'

At a press conference on Monday, the State Electoral Commission, DIK said that the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party won 51 seats in the 120-seat parliament while the main opposition Social Democrats won 49 seats.

The junior ruling Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, has won 10 seats. The Albanian opposition BESA party has won five seats, the opposition Alliance for Albanians has won three seats, while the opposition Democratic Party of Albanians will get two MPs.

The minimum number of MPs needed to form a new government is 61, which the VMRO DPMNE and DUI currently have.

However, observers say that the DUI, which suffered a tremendous blow at Sunday's voting, winning only half of the votes compared to the last elections in 2014, will now have a very hard time convincing its members to again join the VMRO DPMNE.

"The DUI is vulnerable right now after this political knockdown.  We can expect some internal turmoil there. Some information say...