Democratic Union for Integration

Macedonia's election campaign formally started on Monday and over the next 20 days the parties will be holding rallies and round tables and trying to visit as many places as they can.

An incident at the weekend when Ali Ahmeti, the head of the junior ruling Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, narrowly escaped an attack by an angry mob in the town of Kumanovo could be the beginning of an outburst of discontent among voters, observers suggested.

A recent opinion poll conducted in Macedonia suggests that the two old-established ethnic Albanian parties could face a serious challenge in the December 11 general elections.

An old mass grave, believed to date from the Second Balkan War, was discovered near the family house of Ali Ahmeti, the head of Macedonia’s junior ruling party, the Democratic Union for Integration.

Lawyers for 37 defendants accused of participating in the shootout with police that left 18 people dead in the northern Macedonian town of Kumanovo want a retired police general who is now head of the small opposition Dignity party, Stojance Angelov, and the head of the junior party in the country's ruling coalition, Democratic Union for Integration chief Ali Ahmeti, to appear as witnesses.

The legal changes failed to pass on Tuesday after only about 30 MPs in the 123-seat parliament, mainly from the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, voted in favour.

The wiretapped telephone conversations, allegedly containing the voices of Ali Ahmeti, the head of the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, and some of his associates, were published by an anonymous source on a Facebook page called Pronto MK.

What are alleged to be the voices of former vice Prime Minister Musa Xhaferi and DUI MP Ermira Mehmeti can also be heard in the recordings.

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday scheduled a session for the following morning to discuss whether the dissolution of parliament ahead of the June 5 polls was unconstitutional because it was carried out incorrectly.

The ruling VMRO DPMNE of former prime minister Nikola Gruevski has denied accusations it is practically suspending political pluralism in Macedonia by insisting on competing in June 5 elections alone.

Ethnic Albanian opposition parties in Macedonia are organizing a protest march on May 9 in the northern town of Kumanovo, to mark the first anniversary of the bloody events there that led to the death of 14 citizens and eight policemen.