The cases “OMO Ilinden” and “Ivanov and the others vs. Bulgaria” have been definitively closed with a resolution of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe considering that Strasbourg believes Bulgaria met all responsibilities arising from the verdicts reached by the European Court of Justice in 2005. In this way, the case of OMO Ilinden has been resolved in the same way as the case of OMO Ilinden-PIRIN two years ago, Dnevnik reports.

OMO Ilinden led by Jordan Kostadinov and Ivanov were paid damages of 6,800 euros and 2,000 euros respectively and that was one of the reasons why the Committee of Ministers concluded that Bulgaria carried out the Court’s verdict.

However, these lawsuits were primarily aiming to win recognition of the Macedonian national minority in Bulgaria and therefore these resolutions have a specific political relevance.

“Bulgaria failed to meet the conditions, particularly Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. We are not registered. Only when we become registered will the conditions be met,” Jordan Kostadinov, leader of OMO Ilinden said Sunday.

Nikola Gruevski and Ali Ahmeti, leaders of the two parties that polled most votes in the Macedonian and Albanian campus respectively, are said to have commenced the talks about the distribution of ministerial posts in the new government. The way their cake is cut, analysts say, depends on the demands of the Albanian partner.

Based on the information obtained so far, it is obvious that neither Gruevski nor Ahmeti will make a considerable staff change. What is certain is that Nikola Gruevski is the new Prime Minister and Ahmeti remains in Parliament with a great influence on his people in the executive branch.

“There will be new people but the main characteristic of the new government will be the rotation of party officials across sectors,” analysts comment.

Vladimir Pesevski, outgoing Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Gordana Jankuloska, outgoing Interior Minister, Zoran Stavreski, outgoing Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Antonio Milososki, outgoing Foreign Minister and Nikola Todorov, outgoing Education Minister, will be shifted from the list of MPs of VMRO-DPMNE to positions in the Government or other government institutions. Pesevski, Stavreski and Milososki are said to retain their former positions, as Gordana Jankulovska is said to be reappointed as Minister of Justice, especially in the light of the recent tragic death of a boy in the center of Skopje.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey welcomes the early parliamentary elections that were held Sunday in the Republic of Macedonia which were carried out in accord with the international standards and in an environment of peace and tranquility, reads the official statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey.

“We congratulate the democratic maturity shown by the Macedonian people.
In this respect, we gladly take note of the active involvement in the elections and the harmony demonstrated with the other communities in Macedonia by the Macedonian Turkish Community, which constitutes one of the main segments of the Macedonian society.
Social harmony, dialogue and the functioning of democratic institutions in Macedonia, which has a special role with its multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural structure and geographical position in the Balkans, bear great importance for the future of the country, whereas its Euro-Atlantic integration is of great significance for lasting peace and stability in the region.
Elections were followed by the Members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly within the PACE and OSCE PA observation missions and a Turkish observer group included in the elections observation mission created by OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.
Turkey, which has deeply rooted historical and cultural relations with Macedonia, will increasingly continue its support in all fields in the coming period.”

Brussels officials say they are happy that the election day in Macedonia went without incidents and major problems and that now time has come to get down to work. This is in short the message that the EU is sending to our country hoping that a government would soon be formed and that it would embark on resolving the most pressing issues, such as the reforms and the name issue, Dnevnik reports.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule and EU High Representatives for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton issued a joint statement late on Monday in which it is obvious they felt relieved on hearing that the elections went without incidents, which the citizens should be credited with most.

Brussels also feared that the Albania scenario of refusing to accept the election results could have a rerun in Macedonia.

VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski has reasons to be content with the outcome of the early parliamentary elections in which he won his third successive mandate. Macedonia will again have a right-wing government that will not be of the kind of the Italian governments though, that is to say, made up of a few parties of the Macedonian and Albanian political campus, as the political and expert circles speculated.

Gruevski did not win the desired 62 parliamentary seats but he polled nearly 440,000 votes (according to the preliminary results) and won 56 seats (53 plus three from the diaspora), which makes it possible for him to receive the mandate for composing the new government without any major problems, Utrinski vesnik reports.

The government cabinet will again include BDI as a coalition partner. With their 15 MPs, which confirmed their domination in the Albanian campus, BDI has reasons to feel content as well. However, the new governing coalition of VMRO-DPMNE and BDI will not be as powerful as in the previous Parliament when it controlled both a two-thirds majority and a Badinter. We are yet to see whether Ahmeti loses the feeling of ease that he had in his partnership with VMRO-DPMNE, as he used to say at the rallies.

- On Monday the police detained Ljube Boskovski, former Interior Minister and leader of United for Macedonia. The police suspects Boskovski of illegally financing his election campaign and during the arrest, 100,000 euro cash and a gun were allegedly found in his vehicle. Boskovski was brought before an investigative judge. A great number of revolted citizens, family members and members of his party gathered outside the court and the police station.

An investigative judge sentenced Mr. Boskovski to 30 day detention. The police detained two other persons, supporters of Boskovski, who took part in the incident outside the Basic Court I in Skopje. 

VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition won most votes at the early parliamentary elections, held Sunday.

According to the results from all 2.976 polling stations that were presented Monday by the State Election Commission, the governing coalition won 437, 665 votes or 39 percent followed by the SDSM-led coalition which won 367, 876 votes or 32.78 percent. BDI won 114, 870 votes  (10.24 percent), PDSH – 66, 055 votes (5.89 percent), NDP- 29,981 votes (2.67 percent), VMRO-NP – 28, 125 (2.51 percent), DR- 19, 732 ( 1.76 percent), United for Macedonia – 17,015 (1.52 percent), LDP – 16, 556 (1.48 percent), DIGNITY – 8, 847 (0.79 percent), PODEM - 4,417 (0.39 percent), SDU – 2,268 (0.20 percent), NDU – 453 votes (0.04 percent), SDPM – 1803 votes (0.16 percent), Democratic Right-Wing Party – 1515 votes (0.14 percent), European Party of Macedonia – 130 votes (0.01 percent) and PPD – 275 (0.02 percent).

The voter turnout totals 63.29 percent. A total of 1.154.371 citizens came out to vote on Sunday and the number of valid ballots is 1. 122. 420.

The Macedonian citizens elected Sunday the MPs that would be representing them in the next four years. The constitution of the seventh Parliament will most probably take place by 25 June at the latest and the new Government will be elected by 10 August. These second early parliamentary elections were very uncertain, the main dilemma being whether VMRO-DPMNE would win again or whether the leftists led by SDSM would regain power, Utrinski vesnik reports.

Under the Constitution, the constitutive meeting is held within 20 days of the elections and it is called by the parliament speaker of the previous composition. Unless the constitutive meeting is scheduled within this period, the newly elected MPs would assemble at their own initiative and constitute the new Parliament on the 21st day of the day the elections were held. The Parliament can be constituted provided that at least 80 MPs have been elected.

With more than 55 parliamentary seats, VMRO-DPMNE and the coalition for better Macedonia won these elections. This victory has a special significance because it was scored in times of global crisis, said VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski at the first press-conference where he announced the victory. Gruevski assessed that the election were held in a fair and democratic atmosphere, thanks to all citizens of the Republic of Macedonia.

Little after midnight, President of opposition SDSM Branko Crvenkovski congratulated VMRO-DPMNE on the achieved election results. According to Crvenkovski, the battle continues adding that SDSM does not stop here and that it guarantees that the time of this party is yet to come. Radmila Sekerinska, SDSM’s candidate that ran for Prime Minister, also congratulated VMRO-DPMNE and stressed that SDSM would resume the battle but now as a very constructive opposition.

BDI declared victory in the Albanian camp and according to spokesperson Ermira Mehmeti, the party won more than 53,000 votes.

A little before 23.00 hrs, MP Vlatko Gjorcev from VMRO-DPMNE said his party won the early parliamentary elections. According to Gjorcev, PM Nikola Gruevski will still be Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia. Gjorcev also said VMRO-DPMNE will have 55 MPs in the new Parliament including the three diaspora MPs and SDSM 39 MPs. He thanked all Macedonian citizens for their contribution to holding fair and democratic elections. Gjorcev also informed that the smaller parties will have no Members of Parliament.

According to the State Election Commission, based on information from 62 percent of the polling stations, VMRO-DPMNE polled 218,714 (39.85 percent), SDSM 179,007 (32.62 percent), BDI 57,766 (10.53 percent) and PDSH 27,966 (5.10 percent) votes.

VMRO-DPMNE won the three diaspora parliamentary seats: Pavle Sazdov (USA/Canada), Risto Mancev (Europe) and Milorad Dodevski (Australia), said the television channel Sitel.

According to unofficial information, as A1 reported, the turnout by 19.00 hrs was 64 percent. The turnout was highest in the third and fourth constituency (over 70 percent) and was lowest in the sixth constituency (42 percent). The turnout in the first constituency was 62 percent.

A next press conference of the State Election Commission is expected at 22.00 hrs.

Based on the information from 93.25 percent of the polling stations, the turnout by 17.000 hrs was 53.86 percent. It was the highest in the third constituency (61.23 percent) and lowest in the sixth constituency (42.28 percent). A total of 928,983 voters went to the polls by 17.00 hrs, said the State Statistical Office (DIK).

The vote in the diaspora was carried out on Saturday, the ballots were sent home via a diplomatic mail and the results will be revealed after 19.00 hrs on Sunday.

Monitors from the civic association MOST registered minor irregularities that had no major effect on the election process and by 18.00 hrs the vote was not interrupted at any polling station.

Based on information from 93.82 percent of the polling stations, 612,814 citizens, or 35.8 percent of the eligible voters, cast ballots by 13.00 hrs, said the State Election Commission.
The turnout was highest in the third constituency, where 40.82 percent of the eligible voters cast ballots by 13.00 hrs and lowest in the sixth constituency where 27.60 percent of the electorate went to the polls.
Boris Kondarko, President of the State Election Commission (DIK), informed that the vote had been carried out peacefully without any major problems. DIK also has information about certain irregularities; more specifically, some citizens took photos of the ballots with their cell phones, which was reported by the election boards to the relevant institutions and legal sanctions will be taken in response.
According to MOST as well, the turnout is high and is higher than the one in 2008 in all constituencies except the sixth one. MOST registered new election irregularities at the polling stations, such reading the voters’ names out loud, taking photos of the ballots, proxy voting, propaganda materials at places where there should not have been any, etc.

By 10 am based on processed information from 85.56 percent of the polling stations, in all nine constituencies (six in the Republic of Macedonia and three abroad), 14.02 percent of the eligible voters cast ballots, said Boris Kondarko, President of the State Election Commission (DIK) at the first press conference Sunday.
The turnout was the greatest in the third constituency, where 18.61 percent of the registered voters went to the polls by 10 am, and the lowest in the sixth constituency, where based on information from 98.31 percent of the polling stations, only 7.9 percent of the voters cast ballots.
DIK President Kondarko said that no reports of irregularities had so far been submitted to the Commission and that the vote was being carried out peacefully.
According to the monitors of the civic association MOST, since the opening of the polling stations irregularities have occurred at three polling stations, in Stip, Centar Zupa and Studenicani.

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov appealed for fair and democratic elections that would celebrate democracy and show that Macedonia’s place is in the democratic world.

“I would like to send a message to our citizens to respect the country and all that we have achieved in the past 20 years of independence. And we have to prove that on Sunday, on the election day,” President Ivanov said in Rome where he attended the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification.

On Sunday, he added, we should celebrate democracy because on that day our citizens will vote for those who will represent them in Parliament over the next four years and will have to take decisions about what Macedonia should achieve and that is the strategic goals of joining NATO and the EU. President Ivanov expects peaceful and fair elections, because, as he said, it is improper after 20 years of democracy to take actions in elections that do no good to those who come after us.

The European Commission has an enlargement strategy that is being carried out and the only unexpected results are those concerning the setting Macedonia a date for opening accession talks because of the delicate name issue with Greece. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban reiterated at the conference of the European Commission in Budapest on Tuesday that it was not good for Macedonia to remain blocked and appealed to the EU member states not to use their right to veto and to Greece to let Macedonia open accession talks with the Union, Vecer reports.

The Hungarian Presidency believes the EU’s future depends largely on the success of the enlargement process. Prime Minister Orban also added that the delayed accession of Croatia into the Union would have negative consequences as well.

“Unless results are achieved that would keep the Balkan countries on the European path, we risk the stability of the region. If we cannot offer them a real perspective, we are going to lose our credibility,” Orban said.

- Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, upon an invitation of Italian president Giorgio Napolitano, on Thursday in Rome is to attend the ceremony on the occasion of the 150 year anniversary of Italy’s unification.

The election campaign in Macedonia shows how divided the country is. The situation is particularly bad in the campus of the Macedonian political parties, whose leaders keep exchanging harsh criticisms and insults. On the other hand, the leaders of the Albanian political parties show that they can at least talk to each other, diplomatic sources from the EU say about the campaign for the early general elections in Macedonia.

In such a situation of mutual insults and absence of debates that would help the citizens understand the positions of the leaders to the most important issues in the country, according to the Brussels diplomats, it s very important that the elections are carried out by international standards and are given a pass from the OSCE/ODIHR, Dnevnik reports.

“Your country has already fallen behind in the implementation of the EU agenda and if ODIHR says that the elections were no by standards, that would be a further regress on your path to the Union. And no one wants you to stay where you are but to move ahead,” they caution.

The Macedonian-Greek name issue was one of the principal talking points at the meeting of heads of state of Central Europe with US President Barack Obama in Warsaw, Poland. Macedonian President GjoRge Ivanov tabled the Macedonian issue, adding that Macedonia demonstrated its constructiveness in Bucharest by accepting Nimetz’s proposal “Republic of Macedonia (Skopje).”

“We meet all criteria and we must not be left out of the two most powerful political alliances for an irrational and absurd dispute,” President Ivanov said.

An additional reason, he went on, is that with the Ohrid Agreement Macedonia produces stability in the entire region.

“As a country we did all we could. We met all conditions to join NATO and to continue our integration into the EU. The Republic of Macedonia was the only country that broke away from the former federation without conflicts and wars,” the Macedonian president emphasized.

- Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov met Thursday in Warsaw with his Polish counterpart Bronislaw Komorowski. Ivanov extended gratitude to Poland for its support of Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic integration processes and asked for support in regard to opening of the EU accession talks.

Macedonia should call for a resolution and confirmation from the UN for using its name considering that in 20 years the name never caused any international or domestic problems with Greece or any other country, says the first mediator in the Greek-Macedonian dispute, Robin O’Neil. In his view, Macedonia’s reasonableness, flexibility and willingness to discuss are going to secure it support in reaching an agreement over the name issue, Vecer reports.

O’Neil also praised the initiative of President Gjorge Ivanov aired at the recent conference in Geneva where Ivanov said that a name with a geographic qualifier did not suit Macedonia, but it was worth considering the proposal “Republic of Macedonia (Skopje)” and explaining to the Macedonian citizens that this proposal was not going to threaten the Macedonian identity.

Greece refused this proposal in 1992 and seems to be refusing it still. However, that should not be a reason for Macedonia not to express willingness for a new discussion, Ambassador O’Neil said in his interview with PORTA on MTV.

The visa regime will not be reinstated for Macedonia and the other countries of the Western Balkans. This is the final stand of the European Commission, which, following the wave of fake asylum seekers that overran some of the EU member states, introduced reinforced supervision of the visa free regime with the countries of the Western Balkan earlier this year, Nova Makedonija reports.

“The European Union is going to give support to these countries in reducing the number of asylum seekers in the EU by way a continuous dialogue. The measures that the Macedonian Government carried out bore fruit. The number of the asylum seekers has dropped. However it has to be underlined that the problem still exists,” European Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said Tuesday.

The European Commission decided to supplement the visa regulations, which will not be effectuated in any country for the time being but will be a protective mechanism for the countries of the Union and the Schengen area if there is a threat in the future of an uncontrolled inflow of immigrants. The decision sets out the conditions under which it will always be possible to reintroduce temporarily the visa regime for the countries whose citizens misuse the visa liberalization.

According to our methodology of work, we do not participate and do not predict the election process and its outcome. Our job is to assess these elections, whether they will be conducted in agreement with the international standards, and we are going to reveal our assessment on the day after the elections, on 6 June, says OSCE/ODIHR chief Julian Peel Yates in his interview with Nova Makedonija.

JPY: As I have said to the leaders of the political parties, we have come with a blank sheet of paper that we are yet to fill in. Of course, as a mission we are gathering information about the previous situation in the country to be able to assess the election process. Now we are fully operational so that we can produce the assessment in the end. In doing so, we assess how every day of the election process went.

NM: What is your view, after meeting the relevant authorities and the participants in the elections process, of the atmosphere considering that black scenarios are mentioned?

The electorate for the coming parliamentary elections in Macedonia and abroad has been defined. The State Election Commission (DIK) closed the voters’ list and the registered 1,821,122 citizens of Macedonia will be able to exercise their right to vote on 5 June. A day earlier, 7,258 Macedonian citizens living abroad for more than three months who reported for voting previously will also be entitled to vote. The new Parliament will have 123 MPs, 120 of whom are entrusted terms of office by Macedonia’s six constituencies and three are elected by the diaspora, each from Europe and Africa, North and South America and Australia and Asia.

The elections will be held by the proportionate model in Macedonia and by the majority model in a single round in the diaspora. Over the next twenty days, or more specifically until 3 June at midnight, the parties, coalitions and independent candidates who will be running in the elections will be presenting to the electorate their programs and explaining why people should vote for them.

Greek Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos is again in the focus of the public attention because of his positions with regard to the issue concerning Macedonia’s name, Utrinski vesnik reports. Pangalos went public for the first time since the criticism aired by one of the most prominent Greek columnists about the secrecy of his positions and two months since the publication of the of WikiLeaks document. In the WikiLeaks document, Pangalos said that Macedonia should freely use the name “Macedonia” but he would not say it in public because it would prompt a storm of harsh reactions. Aside from the name “Macedonia”, he speaks also about the geographic qualifier, the nationalistic heating up of conflict situations and the abuse of the issue for political popularity.

Writer and columnist Nikos Dimou is asking in his column in the weekly Lifo why Pangalos, who is considered to be a very outspoken man, did not air his view about this strenuous issue in public to help Greece get rid of the “pseudo-problem” that has held both countries hostage for 20 years. The Greek deputy prime minister provided the response in a letter, contending that he had never concealed his position that Macedonia should be allowed to use that name.

Boris Kondarko, president of DIK, told Radio Free Europe Sunday that the greatest challenge to the Commission was carrying out the diaspora vote. According to him, a problem is that the election law is not specific enough as regards the voting abroad.

Macedonia belongs to Europe and it is in Europe’s interest that Macedonia opens accession talks with the European Union as soon as possible, said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who paid a one-day official visit to Macedonia Thursday. After meeting his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski, Prime Minister Orban said that Hungary as a country chairing the EU would keep high on its agenda the opening of membership negotiations as soon as possible.

He stressed that Macedonia had been a country with a candidate member status for six years and that, considering its achievements, it undoubtedly deserved to join the EU in which the Union was truly interested but was obstructed by an unnatural situation that suited no one.

“It is not my business to take sides in Macedonia’s bilateral relations with another country but my job is to cater for Europe’s interests and the EU interest is that Macedonia joins the Union as soon as possible. I believe that these talks should begin as soon as possible. No interest of the EU will be threatened if the talks begin,” the Hungarian prime minister said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia handed a note of protest to Greek Ambassador Alexandra Papadopoulou because of the treatment of Macedonian diplomats in Greece by the Greek authorities. The verbal protest came after Macedonian Consul General in Thessaloniki Tomislav Dimitrovski was held by the Greek police for alleged traffic offence.

At the meeting in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the director of the Directorate for Southeast Europe Dejan Kostadinov-Petrov told the ambassador that the Vienna Convention was breached and that the Macedonian authorities were disappointed by the way a Macedonian diplomat was treated. Considering the timely reaction by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gratitude to the Greek diplomats for their assistance and respect of the diplomatic norms during the incident was also expressed.

After the meeting, Ambassador Papadopoulou stressed that the consul violated a few Greek traffic laws.

“After the police conducted the identification procedure customary for that kind of cases, they let him go. Dimitrovski never left his car. I believe that such incidents should not be given a political connotation. Greece wishes to have good relations with your country at all levels,” Papadopoulou said.

 

President Gjorge Ivanov met in Geneva Tuesday with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and requested of him to insist that Greece too stuck to the frame of the name issue negotiations. Ivanov said after the meeting that he and Ban Ki-moon expect a new dynamics in the negotiation process and added that it was worth thinking about the proposal “Republic of Macedonia (Skopje).”

The political parties of the Albanian political campus, BDI, PDSH, RDK and DR, will not be part of the new government unless they receive written guarantees that their programs will become part of the government strategy. Even before he or she takes office, the future prime minister should have closely defined stances about the demands that the Albanian language should be declared a second official language, that budget money should be distribution evenly, that the budget should be voted through by the Badinter principle and that there should be double voting in courts, Dnevnik reports.

After the promotion of the key demands of the parties of the Albanians and their resolve not to make concessions, a question is inevitably posed of whether this is a pre-election marketing in the race for winning over as many votes as possible. The past experience shows that being radical in elections yields results. The insistence on a written document may also be a result of the incomplete implementation of the Framework Agreement and the failure of the “May” and “March” documents that PM Gruevski negotiated with Ali Ahmeti and Menduh Thaci.