Macedonian general election

Polls opened in North Macedonia on Wednesday in parliamentary and presidential elections in which the rightist opposition is expected to gain ground against a ruling party that has failed to progress talks to join the EU and stamp out corruption.

A political crisis in the Republic of North Macedonia after debates on constitutional changes ended inconclusively and a vote on them was postponed indefinitely. MPs in Skopje debated whether to change their basic law, including whether Bulgarians should be included in the constitution. According to analysts, North Macedonia risks seriously falling behind in negotiations with the EU.

As the North Macedonian parliamentary commission starts work this week on drafting important but controversial change designed to satisfy neighbouring Bulgaria, opposition parties have cried foul, insisting that the experts nominated in it lack credibility, as they are close to the ruling parties.

Local elections will be held today in the neighboring Republic of North Macedonia, a BGNES reported.

1,824,864 people have the right to vote. 301 candidates are running for mayor and 10,600 for municipal councilors. Twelve candidates are running for mayor of the capital, Skopje. The second round of elections will take place on October 31.

North Macedonia's long-overdue national census, a key operation that the country has failed to carry out for 19 years due to ethnic and political interference, is already facing serious attempts to disrupt it.

The former partners in the last coalition government in North Macedonia, the Social Democrats, SDSM, of Zoran Zaev, and the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, led by Ali Ahmeti, are engaged in substantial talks on a new government, amid speculation that talks might be stuck over the DUI's insistence on an ethnic Albanian prime minister.

Still no newly elected council for national broadcaster:

Changes to the national broadcaster, Macedonian Radio and Television, MRT, and to the institution that regulates the electronic media, the Agency for Audio and Audio-visual Services, AVMU, were key stated priorities for the Social Democrats.

The decision of the government of North Macedonia to scrap movement restrictions, starting Wednesday, and gradually reopen cafes on Thursday, has drawn criticism that the move is driven mainly by the ruling party's quest for early elections rather than being based on real assessments of the health situation.

As the health crisis recedes, the ruling Social Democrats and their VMRO DPMNE rivals have failed to agree on a date for new elections - and neither side looks like budging any time soon.

The then opposition leader who later became the Prime Minister, Zoran Zaev [c], was among the badly injured during the mob attack. Photo: EPA/STR

More minnows than big fish on trial:

The parliament came under attack amid a tense political standoff between the allies and opponents of the former right-wing VMRO DPMNE government led by Nikola Gruevski.