Macedonia Opposition Won't Abandon Mayoral Wins

VMRO DPMNE spokesperson Ivo Kotevski on Monday said the opposition party, which suffered a crushing defeat in just finished local elections, will not give up the few mayoral seats it won.

"There is no reason for that," Kotevski told the media. "That way, we would only make it easier for [Social Democrat Prime Minister Zoran] Zaev and the Social Democrats [SDSM] to usurp their [the people's] will and accomplish their plan for complete power".

Kotevski referred also to his party's electoral mantra, which accused Zaev of seeking to use this power to trade away Macedonia's national interests, especially in forthcoming talks with Greece over the country's name and also over a new law that will broaden use of the Albanian language, which is now in parliamentary procedure.

VMRO DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski said soon after Sunday's second round of voting that his party would not recognize the result due to alleged fraud. He demanded another early general election, which was immediately rejected by Zaev.

Election monitors called the elections fair and democratic. They noted several irregularities and incidents but said they did not hamper the overall process.

OSCE monitors on Monday said the second round was "competitive" and that the elections in general were democratic.

In the local elections, VMRO DPMNE lost some 120,000 voters compared to December's early general election result, and won only five out of Macedonia's 81 municipalities, four of which are in rural areas.

This result was regarded as the worst election debacle that either of the two main parties has experienced during more than two-and-a-half decades of independence.

By comparison, the now ruling SDSM, led by Zaev, scored victories all over...

Continue reading on: