Macedonian parliamentary election

Campaigning is halting on Friday in Macedonia ahead of Sunday's local elections, when almost 1.8 million registered voters will choose mayors and local councils in 80 municipalities plus the capital, Skopje.

Over the 20 days of the campaign, parties, coalitions and independent candidates have focused primarily on promises to improve local infrastructure.

Macedonia's main ruling party, the Social Democrats, and the ethnic Albanian BESA party have exchanged a series of mutual accusations and warnings.

The dispute erupted after the Social Democrats, the SDSM, decided to openly support BESA's bitter Albanian rivals in the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, in the October 15 local elections.

As the two leading candidates for the post of Mayor of Skopje try to woo ethnic Albanian voters ahead of the vote on October 15, both are avoiding the kind of divisive ethnic language that marred last year's general elections.

The campaign for the October 15 local elections in Macedonia will feature a mixed bag of local topics and big national issues, observers say - adding that the result will serve as an important barometer of the popularity of new course of the country following the change of regime at a national level.

The Macedonian prosecution team tasked with investigating high-level crime has confirmed it intends to challenge the Skopje Criminal Court decision not to freeze the assets of the former ruling party VMRO DPMNE before the Supreme Court.

Macedonia's new reformist government faces it first big test after a small coalition partner, the DPA - Movement for Reforms, said it would quit the Social Democrat-led government if it fails to adopt a law extending the official use of Albanian by early September.

Many of the new government's proposed bills, regulations and appointments may fall victim to the strategy adopted by the former ruling VMRO DPMNE, whose MPs have formed ten separate parliamentary caucuses which gave them more opportunities to stall parliament's work.

The governing coalition in FYROM may be dissolved after 100 days in office, if the new bill on a wider use of the Albanian language, is not approved, according to the Independent Balkan News Agency. This warning comes from the Alliance for Albanians, which has three seats in parliament and which enabled the formation of the government led by the social democrat MP, Zoran Zaev.

The leaders of Albanian parties in Macedonia - now part of the government led by Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev - gathered on Wednesday in Skopje to make sure the so-called "Albanian platform" becomes part of the new government's agenda.

Macedonia's opposition Social Democrats said Sunday they would push ahead in forming a government with ethnic Albanian partners, following an eruption of violence when protesters who oppose them stormed parliament, AFP reported.