VMRO-DPMNE

A Macedonian court has granted two requests, one from each of the biggest parties, to hold a repeat election in two stations, potentially reshaping the result.

The Administrative Court of Macedonia has ruled in favour of two complaints, by conservative VMRO-DPMNE and socialist SDSM party, setting a new vote on December 25, according to state-run MIA news agency.

Former policeman Johan Tarculovski has entered parliament after being elected as MP in the country's second electoral unit that covers parts of Macedonia's north-east but also parts of capital Skopje.

Macedonia's tight election result has shifted attention to ethnic Albanian parties, which together won 20 MPs and are seen as possibly holding the key to the formation of a new government in Macedonia.

According to the latest results, the ruling VMRO DPMNE party won 51 of the 120 seats in parliament and the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, won 49.

The ruling VMRO-DPMNE led by long-time Prime Minister of Macedonia Nikola Gruevski has won the most votes in early elections held on Sunday.

Gruevski's party received 38.06 percent of the cast ballots, while opposition leader Zoran Zaev and his coalition around the SDSM won 36,69 percent.

Nearly complete results in Macedonia's early general elections show the country's conservative coalition in a slim victory over its Social Democratic rivals, but with neither party winning enough parliamentary seats to form a government. Both sides have claimed victory.

VMRO-DPMNE party, which has dominated Macedonian politics since 2006, has a 1.24% lead on socialist rival SDSM in Sunday's election, official results show.

With nearly all the vote counted, the party of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has got 37.98% of the vote.

Support for SDSM of Zoran Zaev is at 36.74%, according to the Central Election Commission (DIK)'s website.

Former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's VMRO-DPMNE party has having a 4-5 percent lead on social democrat SDSM of Zoran Zaev, first poll data shows.

The conservative party, which has been at the helm of Macedonia for ten years. has got 41.35%, with nearly a third of the vote counted.

SKOPJE, MACEDONIA —
Polls opened Sunday in Macedonia for a general election called two years early as part of a Western-brokered agreement to end a paralyzing political crisis.

Polling stations will be open in Macedonia until 7pm Sunday in an early general election in which more than 1.7 million people have a right to vote. They will be electing 123 legislators from six electoral districts. Three more legislators will be elected from the votes in diaspora.

Voting has begun in Macedonia, in an election postponed twice this year and seen as a way of the political crisis.

Conservative VMRO-DPMNE of Nikola Gruevski, which has dominated Macedonian politics for a decade, and opposition SDSM of Zoran Zaev, are expected to win the biggest share of the vote.