VMRO-DPMNE and BDI, the partners in office, are in talks over the possibility of supporting each other in the second election round on 7 April in the municipalities with mixed ethnic structure, sources from Ali Ahmeti’s party told Dnevnik. Tetovo, Gostivar, Kumanovo and Centar are some of the municipalities in which a deal may be struck between the political parties led by Nikola Gruevski and Ali Ahmeti. BDI officials say that in case cooperation is negotiated, it is going to apply to all municipalities where cooperation is necessary and will be with the governing partner. The paper was unable to obtain any information from VMRO-DPMNE Monday whether there would be an agreement on mutual support with BDI in those municipalities.

“If there is will, we are going to cooperate with VMRO-DPMNE in the second election round. The concept is to negotiate cooperation in all specific municipalities where BDI and VMRO-DPMNE are in the lead. In fact, it would be only normal for the governing partners to cooperate in these municipalities,” a high-ranking representative of BDI says.

- UN mediator Matthew Nimetz scheduled a new meeting with negotiators Zoran Jolevski and Adamantios Vassilakis for 8 and 9 April in New York. Nimetz’s press-release reads that the two parties have accepted the invitation in order to find a mutually acceptable name solution.

Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski has scheduled a parliamentary meeting for 10 April. It is going to be the first test of whether Parliament has restored normalcy following the events of 24 December or not.  That is going to depend on the decision of whether the MPs of SDSM and their coalition partners return to Parliament, for which they have not yet assumed a clear stance, Utrinski vesnik comments in its Saturday issue.

From 24 December until early March when it went into recess due to the local elections, Parliament was operating without the opposition which is why there was no debate over crucial issues. During that period, the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure changed, too, which was much criticized by the international community.

Among the MPs of SDSM, who refuse to make any official statements, there is a dilemma over whether their presence in Parliament, immediately after the political agreement brokered by Commissioner Stefan Fule was reached, spelled the end of their boycott. Most of them believe that their presence at the meeting on 2 March, when the extension of the deadlines for submitting candidates for mayors and council members was voted through, made it clear that they ended their boycott and were ready to take full part in the Parliament’s work.

In 29 out of 81 local government units, there will be a second election round, according to the initial results of the local poll Sunday. The completion of the vote count at all polling stations has resolved the dilemma in the Skopje municipality of Centar: Andrej Zernovski from the opposition Alliance for the Future who won 49.18 percent of the vote and Vladimir Todorovik from the VMRO-DPMNE are going to face each other in the second election round on 7 April.

Centar is one of the municipalities in which invalid ballots were the reason for leading candidates to miss the threshold of 51 percent by a small number votes. Zernovski, for example, has 1,400 votes more than Todorovik does and supposing the turnout in the second round is similar or smaller, the chances of a turnabout in this municipality are slim, especially bearing in mind that there is a similar difference in votes for the council member lists of SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE.

The coalition of VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM struck in support of Blagoja Despotovski in Kicevo filed complaints Tuesday about seven polling stations that may bring into question BDI candidate Fatmir Dehari’s first round victory. The results in Kicevo have been heating up the political atmosphere since Monday, especially after BDI and leader Ali Ahmeti celebrated with a grand concert the fact that an ethnic Albanian has been elected mayor of the municipality for the first time. Prime Minister and VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski visited Kicevo and the party headquarters Tuesday in a little tense atmosphere to discuss the newly created situation. He was welcomed by a few hundred residents of Kicevo, some of whom protested, as others supported him chanting “Kicevo is Macedonia!”

“I understand the anger of the people because I feel the same anger. They have problems now and challenges and those are my problems and challenges as well and that is why I am here. I came here to Kicevo, unlike certain others, who came neither in the past nor now, and unlike some that wished to create discord. We are going to continue supporting Kicevo. Kicevo is and will remain Macedonia and the Government is going to triple its effort in the future to help these people, create more jobs and bring more investments so the residents of Kicevo can get what they deserve  - a better life,” Gruevski said to the assembled residents, after meeting Blagoja Despotovski.

It would be more virtuous and ethical of SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski to announce his own resignation instead of a boycott of the second round of the local elections. Following the seventh election defeat that his party has suffered, analysts, political experts and former high-ranking members of SDSM, say that many segments, even before 24 March, indicated a lost fight which should by definition be followed by a resignation of the leader of the group. The analysts that Dnevnik talked to say that at his last press conference on the Election Day, at which, due to election irregularities, Crvenkovski announced the possibility of boycotting the second round of vote, Crvenkovski and SDSM Secretary General Andrej Petrov should have stepped down conceding the party wheel to SDSM Vice Chairman Zoran Zaev, at least until the May congress, at which the party’s next steps will be discussed.

“I have warned many times that the results will be bad. I have no idea what more should happen so Crvenkovski would resign. Until SDSM defeats Crvenkovski, the party is not going to make any headway,” says former Prime Minister and former leader of the party, Vlado Buckovski, whom SDSM expelled for having argued in public that Crvenkovski and the leadership took the party in the wrong direction.

- President of the State Election Commission (DIK) Boris Kondarko at Monday’s press-conference said that the elections in the first round are completely finished in 51 municipalities. According to Kondarko, the second round of elections for mayor will be held in 29 municipalities and the City of Skopje, including Karpos, Centar, Kocani, Veles, Struga, Delcevo, Gostivar, Aracinovo, Berovo and others.

The coalition led by VMRO-DPMNE polled most of the vote in 54 municipalities, the coalition led by SDSM won in 7, BDI in 12 and PDSH, the Serb Progressive Party, RDK, the Democratic Party of Turks and the Alliance of Roma in one each, as independent candidates won in two municipalities. These results have been obtained from the vote count at 97.48 percent of all polling stations in the country.
The State Election Commission (DIK) is going to state Monday the initial unofficial results of the local elections immediately after the vote count at all polling stations is complete, said DIK Chairman Boris Kondarko at the press conference Sunday at midnight.
Kondarko said the State Election Commission assessed the high turnout in the local elections as very positive and was content that the election day went peacefully without violence and or any incidents at polling stations. However, according to him, there were some serious election irregularities in and out of the polling stations.

We welcome the fact that the local elections were conducted in a peaceful atmosphere, said EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule’s Office.

“We are now awaiting the official results from the State Election Commission, as well as the official report from the OSCE/ODIHR and the additional recommendations they may have,” Commissioner Fule’s Office said.

VMRO-DPMNE won in most municipalities of the Republic of Macedonia and by a wider margin than we expected in the local elections Sunday, said Ilija Dimovski, Director of VMRO-DPMNE’s communication center at a press conference Sunday night.

He said VMRO-DPMNE, according to as yet unofficial information, was going to score a landslide victory in Stip, Gazi Baba, Aerodrom. Krusevo, Radovis, Vinica, Kisela Voda, Sveti Nikole, Prilep, Bitola, Kriva Palanka, Valandovo, Resen and Gevgelija, as few votes were expected to determine the winner in Centar and Veles. VMRO-DPMNE is also in the lead in Butel, Krivogastani, Ohrid, Pehcevo, Vasilevo, Ilinden, Vevcani, Dojran, Petrovec, Makedonska Kamenica, Demir Kapija and Rosoman.

SDSM expects to score a first round victory in Strumica. According to as yet unofficial information, the opposition coalition Alliance for the Future is also in the lead in Kumanovo, Debarca, Berovo, Rankovce and Bogdanci, said Gordan Georgiev, SDSM Vice Chairman, at a press conference Sunday night. He also said there were numerous election irregularities in Bitola.

Subhi Jakupi, Vice President of the State Election Commission, said at the press conference at 18.00 hrs that by 17.00 hrs, 57.57 percent of the eligible voters in Macedonia went to the polls, which is considerably more relative to the 48.73 percent turnout in the 2009 local elections.
The turnout in Skopje by 17.00 hrs was 53.08 percent. The municipalities with the highest turnout include Kicevo (71 percent), Strumica (68.29 percent), Stip (66.17 percent), Ohrid (64.62 percent), Bitola (62.64 percent), Karpos (60.43 percent), and Struga (57 percent). Jakupi said he was content with the way elections had so far gone and appealed to all voters who have not yet cast ballots to exercise their voting right until 19.00 hrs.
The Ministry of Interior said that the elections were being held in a fair and democratic atmosphere.

The State Election Commission (DIK) said that 554,883 citizens, or 34.87 percent of the eligible voters, voted by 13.00 hrs. The turnout in Skopje by 13.00 was 31.21 percent, or 123,033 citizens cast ballots.
The highest turnout was in the municipality of Vevcani - 60.52 percent – and the lowest in the municipality of Bosilovo – 21.04 percent.
Of the Skopje municipalities, the turnout was the highest in Karpos – 34.47 percent – and the lowest in Suto Orizari – 25.20 percent.
Janez Lenarcic, director of the OSCE/ODIHR, said that these elections were important for the country and its current political situation and that the mission of the OSCE/ODIHR would release its preliminary report on Sunday’s vote on Monday afternoon.
The civil association Most registered minor irregularities, such as interruption of vote, group voting, and reading aloud the voters’ names at a few polling stations.
The next press conference of the State Election Commission has been set for 18.00 hrs.

The fifth local elections are being held in Macedonia Sunday (24 March), in which citizens are electing mayors and council members in 80 municipalities and the City of Skopje. At 2,976 polling stations, 1,743,403 citizens are entitled to vote for 350 candidates for mayors and 480 lists of candidates for council members.
According to the State Election Commission, by 12.00 hrs, 221,045 citizens, or 12.86 percent of the eligible voters, went to the polls. The local elections are monitored by 410 foreign and 8,379 domestic observers. The vote began at 7.00 hrs in the morning and ends at 19.00 hrs in the evening.
The turnout is the highest in Kratovo, where 22.29 percent of the eligible voters cast ballots by 12.00 hrs, and is the lowest in Bogovinje – 6.5 percent.
The second round of vote will be held within 14 days of the first round day.
According to the civil association MOST, all polling stations opened this morning as certain irregularities were detected at few of them.

The sixth local elections in Macedonia to be held on 24 March (Sunday) will be monitored by 8,379 domestic and 410 foreign observers.

The civil association Most accredited 3,941, Synergy, Association for Humanitarian Activities of Stip, 3,534, the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCMS) 392, the Federation of Civil Associations ‘Macedonian Platform Against Poverty’ 379 and the nongovernmental organization Civil 128 observes.

The local elections will also be monitored by 204 observes of the OSCE/ODIHR, 38 of the OSCE, 38 of the US Embassy, 32 of the EU Delegation, 17 of the Central Election Commission of Kosovo, 16 of the Council of Europe, seven of the French Embassy, five each of the Embassies of Kosovo and Turkey, four each of the Bulgarian, Russian, Austrian and Chinese Embassies and the NATO Liaison Office in Skopje, three each of the British, Croatian and Albanian Embassies, two each of the Slovenian, Ukrainian, Swedish and Serbian Embassies and one of the Embassy of the Republic of Slovakia in Macedonia.

- Deputy PM for European Affairs Fatmir Besimi met Thursday with Director General of Enlargement for the European Commission Stefano Sannino and Pierre Vimont, Secretary-General of the European External Action Service. Sannino and Vimont sent a public appeal to authorities in the Republic of Macedonia to show democratic capacity for fair elections because Macedonia can expect a positive report from the European Commission in this way only.

The State Election Commission (DIK) started distributing ballots and other election material to local elections commissions across the country Thursday.
DIK is going to distribute by Saturday at the latest over four million ballots bearing in mind that in certain municipalities citizens will have to vote for candidates on as many as four lists.
Macedonian citizens are going to the polls Sunday (24 March) to elect mayors and local council members in 80 municipalities and the City of Skopje. A total of 1,743,403 citizens are entitled to vote at 2,976 polling stations for 350 candidates for mayors and 480 lists of candidates for local council members.

All major parties at the European Parliament have reached a political deal over compromise amendments concerning everything, except one item, Richard Howitt, Rapporteur on Macedonia at the EP, told MIA’s Brussels-based correspondent in view of the coming vote on the Resolution on Macedonia set for 8 April.

According to Howitt, one more recommendation from the European Parliament to the European Council for immediate start of membership negotiations with Macedonia may be expected.

The Serb Progressive Party (SNP), which has candidates for mayors in eight municipalities in Macedonia, have so far spent no money on any activities by its candidates for mayors or council members, according to the financial report the party has provided to the relevant authorities about its income and costs in the first ten days of the local election campaign. The report reveals that the party received no donations to this effect either. On the other hand, this party has backed the candidacy of Stevco Jakimovski for mayor of the Skopje municipality of Karpos and he is currently conducting an intense campaign in the media and among citizens, Dnevnik reports.

Dragisa Miletic, leader of SNP, said the party did have some revenues and costs and that all of it would be stated in their next report.

The Party for European Future (PEI), whose candidates are running for mayors of Mavrovo-Rostuse and Dolneni, said they had so far received only one donation of 1,000 denars.

- President Gjorge Ivanov is to take part Tuesday at the inauguration of Pope Francis in Vatican. Over 180 Presidents, Prime Minister and thousands of believers are to attend the ceremony which will be held on the St Peter’s Square in Rome.

-    According to Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki, a Macedonian priority in the relations with the neighbors is the projects that connect citizens, and are in the spirit of the European integration. In his view, Macedonia is dedicated to promoting relations with its eastern neighbor. Also, he expects the fourth meeting of the working groups of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of both countries to be held eventually although the timing has not yet been defined considering Bulgaria is currently run by a technical government.

The verdicts of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg are binding for the member states, including Greece and Bulgaria. However, the committee that controls whether verdicts are being carried out consists of government representatives and therefore its decisions are not objective enough, former Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg told Dnevnik. During his tenure, he requested of Greece and Bulgaria in writing to protect the rights of their Macedonian minorities.

“It has been a year since I left Strasbourg and I don’t know what the situation is now but I definitely think I raised to a higher level the problem with the minorities in both countries,” Hammarberg says.

He adds that he stressed in his reports that hate speech should be put an end to in these countries and that every minority had the right to self-identification.

The European Parliament, news agencies report, is going to vote on the Resolution on Macedonia on 8 April, that is, a day after the second round of the local elections, while the special spring report of the European Commission, which, as it was agreed at the December summit of the EU, is going to pay attention to the good neighborly relations with Bulgaria, the name issue talks with Greece, and the results of the High Level Accession Dialogue, will be released on 16 April, Nova Makedonija reports.

Whether Macedonia is set a date for opening accession talks at the June Summit of the European Council is going to depend on the report drafted by EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule’s team.

Talks about promoting good neighborly relations with the eastern neighbor have progressed recently but have not been completed because of the fall of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s Government and the preparations for holding early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria. In regard to the name issue talks with Greece, after several meetings of mediator Matthew Nimetz with the representatives of Greece and Macedonia, there is almost no information in the public as to what is going on. Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos has recently said in an interview with the Greek paper Kathimerini that he is reserved as regards the name issue talks.

I am happy that the visit of Commissioner Stefan Fule, Rapporteur Richard Howitt and Jerzy Buzek, former Chairman of the European Parliament, proved successful in seeking out a solution to the political crisis. Macedonian political leaders demonstrated courage and responsibility in finding a solution in the best interest of the country. I hope the local elections will be a strong and transparent contest that will go peacefully. This is going to be a significant element of the spring report, says Lucinda Creighton, Irish Minister for European Affairs, and Chair-in-Office of the EU, in her interview with Dnevnik.

Do you expect Macedonia to be issued a positive report from the European Commission, which is going to decide in June whether the country can launch membership negotiations?

Crucial is that there are no doubts about the dedication of all Macedonian leaders to the European integration as a goal. In order to attain this goal, progress has been made in the past few months. Simultaneously with the implementation of the agreement between the government and the opposition, work on the priorities listed in the December Conclusions of the European Council should urgently continue. I can’t wait to see the spring report of the European Commission evaluating the progress in reforms and good-neighborly relations. Ireland will be content if the Council decides to open negotiations with the Republic of Macedonia.

Experts forecast a Montenegrin scenario, that is, “a date for a date” for Macedonia and Serbia, the only candidate member states from the region expecting a green light for opening membership negotiations in June, Dnevnik reports.

According to some analysts, even in case positive recommendations are issued for both countries in April, setting new conditions in June is not ruled out. They all agree, however, that as far as enlargement goes, the interests of the member states move to the foreground at the expense of the Union’s long-term enlargement interests. In the words of Suzana Grubješić, Serbian Deputy Prime Minster for European Integration, agreements are clearly made in Brussels yet decisions are taken in Berlin. According to analyses, Germany as a key player is reserved in regard to the candidates that have not yet launched accession talks.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia has drafted an overview that should help the country receive a positive assessment of its relations with the neighbors by the European Commission. The overview, as Foreign Ministry officials told Dnevnik, focuses on Macedonia’s relations with all its neighbors, yet most of it is in the service of demonstrating good will for resolving the name issue with Greece.

The document lists all initiatives that Macedonia has undertaken to improve its relations with the southern neighbor, such as the proposals of the Government for signing a declaration on friendship and cooperation, establishing a joint education and history commission and a joint committee between the Ministries of Interior of both countries, opening a new border crossing and holding high-level meetings.

According to Dnevnik’s information, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also addresses the Interim Accord between Macedonia and Greece signed in 1995 and the Judgment of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

- Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski, as of 5 March, is to pay his first official visit to India upon the invitation of Indian Speaker of Lok Sabha, Meira Kumar.

Opposition and government leaders reached an agreement Friday brokered by European officials, according to which local elections will not be postponed as all political parties are going to return to Parliament, Dnevnik reports.

After a few hours of talks with the Macedonian political leaders, EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule, Richard Howitt, the European Parliament Rapporteur on Macedonia, and Jerzy Buzek, former Chairman of the European Parliament, said the country returned to normal political life and to its European course.

“The parties agreed to resume normal political life, to return to Parliament and to participate in the scheduled local elections. They also agreed to form an ad-hoc commission about the events of before and after 24 December, including security in and out of Parliament, while the results of this commission’s work will be included in this year’s report of the European Commission on the country’s progress,” Mr. Howitt said after meeting the leaders of VMRO-DPMNE, SDSM and BDI, Nikola Gruevski, Branko Crvenkovski and Ali Ahmeti.

- Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki on Thursday held his first meeting with John Kerry, new Secretary of State of the United States, at the sideline of a Transatlantic Dinner in Rome. Poposki said that Macedonia continues to contribute in the international missions and in conditions of a delayed EU membership. EU and NATO counterparts advised Poposki that the boycott of institutions does not help Macedonia’s NATO and EU membership.  

- President Gjorge Ivanov on Wednesday met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Vienna and discussed about the name issue. Ki-moon stressed that the name issue has been pending for such a long a time, but a demonstration of good will and constructive approach by both parties may lead to progress. President Ivanov in his address at the Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in Vienna stressed that Macedonia is one of the rare countries in Europe where Orthodox Christians and Muslims celebrate God in one object, under the same roof.

- At an urgent session on Tuesday Macedonian Parliament adopted an amendment to the Electoral Law, enabling an extension of the deadline for submission of mayoral and council members' candidate lists to midnight of 3 March.