SDSM Chairwoman Radmila Sekerinska stated that she is disappointed by everything that has been happening in the country today, the Internet portal Forum reports. “This will be the worst organized elections so far. The number of incidents is increasing every hour. We have already heard that there are casualties in some constituencies. No elections or election result can justify the loss of human life. It turned out that our warnings were justified. The institutions did not rise to the occasion and they did not prevent the violence. On the contrary, they stimulated and enabled violence,” SDSM leader Sekerinska said after casting her ballot.

The voter turnout by 13:00 o’clock is 28.18 percent, State Election Commission (DIK) Chairman Jovan Josifovski informed at a press conference. Josifovski said that the voting is conducted in a peaceful and fair atmosphere in the majority of the polling places in Macedonia, but that voting has been suspended in 20 polling places due to various incidents.

State Election Commission Chairman Jovan Josifovski expressed regret at a press conference that these parliamentary elections are worse than the elections in year 2006, which were assessed as the best-organized elections so far. Chairman Josifovski also expressed condolences to the family of the individual who was killed in the armed confrontation in Aracinovo and he wished speedy recovery to the individuals who were wounded in this armed confrontation.

“It was very important for this day to be flawless, for it to be a real celebration of democracy, and for it to pass in a peaceful and democratic atmosphere so that all our citizens could exercise their right to vote without any pressure and threats. This was important for us ourselves, for our democracy, and for the credibility of our institutions. But I must repeat that this was also important for our Euro-Atlantic integration,” President Branko Crvenkovski said today after casting his ballot in the Skopje suburb of Kapistec, NetPress reports.

The monitors of the MOST civic association registered shooting, intimidation, stealing of ballot boxes, and driving away of monitors at a few polling places in the first three hours of the voting. The monitors of this civic association confirmed that voting had been suspended on the whole territory of the Skopje village of Aracinovo. MOST also received reports from citizens that they were intimidated outside polling places in Aracinovo and Cair and that shooting and other form of pressure had been detected.

BDI leader Ali Ahmeti said today that the state is terrorizing voters, thus preventing them from voting freely, NetPress reports.

“We have confirmation that three individuals have been wounded in Skopje and Aracinovo so far. We appeal for coolheadedness because the elections should be free and fair,” Ahmeti said. He stated that the international community representatives had been informed about these incidents.

One person was wounded in an armed confrontation with the police in the Skopje village of Aracinovo this morning, the Interior Ministry confirmed, the media report.

A few individuals were wounded in an armed confrontation that took place near the Dame Gruev elementary school in the Skopje suburb of Cair this morning, NetPress reports. The Interior Ministry’s initial reports are that the clash occurred on Kosta Brasevic Street and it involved two, for now, unknown groups. The police are investigating this incident.

The voter turnout by 10:00 o’clock is 11.44 percent, State Election Commission (DIK) Spokes-man Zoran Tanevski informed at a press conference. Tanevski said that the highest voter turnout so far had been registered in the village of Bogovinje, Tetovo region, where 19.20 percent of the population voted so far, while the smallest voter turnout was registered in Centar Zupa, Debar re-gion, with approximately 3 percent of the citizens casting their ballots so far.

Zoran Tanevski, spokesman of the State Election Commission (DIK), informed that all polling places but one were opened at 07:00 this morning. The polling place in the village of Malino, region of Skopje, was not opened this morning because the election material and the ballot box containing 427 voting slips were stolen. The voting was also interrupted in the Skopje village of Aracinovo and the Tetovo village of Brvenica for security reasons.

The sixth parliamentary elections are being held in Macedonia today. A total of 1,540 candi-dates on 18 candidate lists are in the race for 120 parliamentary seats. 1,779,116 citizens with the right to vote will cast their ballots at 2,976 polling places. The voting started at 07:00 and will end at 19:00. The elections are held in six constituencies, in accordance with the proportional model. A to-tal of 464 foreign and 5,811 domestic monitors are monitoring these parliamentary elections. Sixty foreign journalists have been accredited to report on these elections.

The election silence prior to the parliamentary elections on Sunday starts at midnight tonight. During this period, the electronic media must not broadcast any commercials and messages of the participants in the elections, while the dailies must not publish advertisements of the participants. The parties are not allowed to campaign among voters, post new posters, and distribute propaganda material, the media report.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said at the European Parliament that immediately after the elections in Macedonia a negotiation round over the name issue between Macedonia and Greece would be held. Rupel also said the relations between the two countries stagnated rather than aggravated. He believes this issue is too hot to be ignored. Utrinski vesnik comments that the EU intendeds to set a date for starting membership negotiations this year and would therefore put pressure on seeking out a solution to the dispute with Greece.

 

EU parliamentarians hold fierce debate over Macedonia in Brussels. Reason for this was Slovenian parliamentarian Jelko Kacin’s remark regarding Greece’s refusal to allow overflight of MAT planes. Greek parliamentarians reacted sharply to this, accusing Macedonia of irredentism and of having territorial claims against Greece. EU parliamentarian Doris Pack and European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pottering also got involved in this debate, calling on Greece to be more tolerant.

Greek Foreign Minister Bakoyannis reacts sharply to Archbishop Stefan’s address at the commemoration of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Rome, labeling it as extremely provocative and unacceptable. The Greek Orthodox Church also reacted sharply.

Pande Lazarov, former CEO of the power company ESM, was questioned by an investigative judge on Thursday afternoon, after being arrested a few hours earlier outside his home and being taken to the police station Karpos. Lazarov is suspected of taking illegally 190,000 German marks and 300,000 U.S. dollars in commission from German and Chinese firms for deals for delivering equipment for the power stations Oslomej and Kozjak.

President Branko Crvenkovski had a brief meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis and Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis at the forum for cooperation in Southeast Europe in Pomorje, Bulgaria, on Tuesday.

What will the European institutions do against the discriminatory conduct of the Greek aviation authorities when they refused a MAT plane a permit for flying over Greek territory, forcing it to land in Istanbul? This is the question that Liberal MEP Jelko Kacin asked all European institutions, hoping that something will be done so that such incidents are not repeated.

Twenty Western diplomats, including a few U.S. Ambassadors from the region as well as former assistant secretaries of state, sent a letter to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer demanding immediate admission of Macedonia into NATO.

 

Over 2,000 government and corporate officials will be afforded the opportunity to learn more about the reform of Macedonia's tax and financial system at the presentation mounted by Macedonian Finance Minister Trajko Slaveski and Foreign Investment Agency Director Viktor Mizo at the annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Kiev, Ukraine.

The Macedonian nation should be recognized and the Macedonians should decide by themselves how they would call themselves, said Sisi Vovu, a Greek peace activist, at the panel discussion entitled "Veto on Nationalism, Embargo on Militarism, Out of NATO" held in Skopje on Saturday.

European Parliament Members Ricardo Ventre and Marcello Vernola from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's political party Forza Italia, who paid a visit to Macedonia on Wednesday, pledged support for full liberalization of the visa regime for Macedonian citizens, the Interior Ministry said.

At their meeting with Macedonian Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska, the MEPs said they were pleased with the results Macedonia achieved in meeting the criteria set by the European Commission.

Faruk Iljazi from Golema Recica and Vulnet Xhelili from Rakovec are suspected for shooting at the BDI caravan in the Tetovo village of Rakovec, the Interior Ministry informed. Iljazi was detained, while Xhelili surrendered to the Tetovo police yesterday. Meanwhile, the incidents in the Tetovo and Gostivar regions have stopped. The Gostivar mayor, who suspended classes in the elementary and secondary schools in the Gostivar Municipality on Tuesday, issued a decree for classes to resume, with the explanation that “the situation has settled down”.

Macedonian citizens were victims of violence and humiliation in a series of incidents in Greece, Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski said at yesterday’s meeting with the ambassadors of the EU member countries to Macedonia.

“If we add to this the several problematic economic measures that jeopardize the interests of the Macedonian companies, we get an ambience that definitely does not contribute to the good neighborly relations or strengthening of the mutual trust,” Crvenkovski said.

“The upcoming parliamentary elections are a very important test for the country. They are also one of the additional benchmarks that the country will have to fulfill,” EU Ambassador to Macedonia Erwan Fouere said, commenting on the recent armed incidents in the country.

The Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed a note of protest to Greek Ambassador to Macedonia Alexandra Papadopoulou because of the increasingly more frequent incidents of molesting Macedonian transporters in Greece. The note says that not only do such vandal acts check the free flow of goods and people, which is one of the EU's fundamental principles, but they also directly jeopardize the safety of Macedonian citizens. This does not contribute to building good neighbor relations and trust, the note says. The Republic of Macedonia expects the Greek authorities to prevent such violence on Greek roads.

Greek nationalists attacked and molested four truck drivers from Macedonia in Greece last week. The Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is waiting for the full report on the two incidents before requesting via the Macedonian Embassy in Athens official explanation from the Greek Government.

Unknown masked and armed individuals set on fire the Goldengate Discotheque in Gostivar at about 03:00 on Sunday, the media report. This discotheque is owned by Fadil Arslani. Utrinski Vesnik comments that the intolerance between the two biggest parties in the Albanian political bloc started with a mutual confrontation on the first day of the official start of the election campaign. The owner of the discotheque maintains that PDSH supporters started the fire and kidnapped and tied the bodyguard of the discotheque. Material damage of approximately 700,000 euros was caused in this incident.

Michael Lee, director of the European Commission's Enlargement Directorate, presented to Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki in Brussels yesterday a list with conditions for canceling of the visa regime between Macedonia and the European Union.