Petre Shilegov

North Macedonia's main opposition VMRO DPMNE party declared victory over the centre-left government on Sunday night after polls closed in the local elections, which would mark a striking political comeback after three election defeats to the ruling Social Democrats.

Blue Sky Investment from North Macedonia is taking over the indebted football club FC Vardar from its previous owner, the Russian-born businessman Sergey Samsonenko, the City of Skopje which mediated the negotiations said on Wednesday.

North Macedonia's Prime Minister and leader of its ruling Social Democratic Party, SDSM, Zoran Zaev, on Sunday said a promised "clean-up" launched after lower than expected results in recent presidential polls would not go without a mass cull of party officials - and will soon include ministers.

A message in big letter to the people of Skope from Yugoslav president-for-life Tito, that formerly stood at the façade of the city's half-destroyed old railway station, will shine in its old splendour ahead of the July 26 anniversary, Skopje authorities say.

"Decision makers on both sides should ask themselves in every negotiation process: Could the other be right? That is the only way to reach an understanding," Skopje Mayor Petre Shilegov told Kathimerini in a recent interview.

Skopje Mayor Petre Shilegov has voiced his support for renewed efforts to settle the name dispute with Athens, while admitting that Alexander the Great was never part of the history of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

Macedonian capital Mayor Petre Shilegov is convinced that authorities in the Republic of Macedonia and Greece want to resolve the dispute over the name of the country.

"It is much better to solve the problems than to ignore them, I personally, but also Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, want to solve rather than create problems," Shilegov told the Greek Documentem agency.

Macedonia's opposition Social Democrats, SDSM - who have obtained a majority in parliament to form a new government - have ruled out another early general election as a way out of the current crisis.

Despite the victory of the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, in the election re-run on Sunday in the village of Tearce in Macedonia, the number of seats that each bloc won in the December 11 elections remains the same. The ruling VMRO DPMNE party won 51 and the SDSM 49 in the 120-seat parliament.

The opposition won 245 votes in Tearce and the ruling party won just 150.

Macedonian voters in the December early elections will no longer run the risk of being tricked into voting for the wrong party.

Macedonia's State Electoral Commission, the DIK, on Monday rejected the list of candidates submitted by the small and obscure Social Democratic Party of Macedonia, SDPM.