Thu, 02 April 11:00 2009

Decisive poll for Macedonia

April 5 sees the second round ballot in Macedonia’s presidential elections. In the first round on March 22 the Conservative candidate Gjorgje Ivanov and the Social Democrat Ljubomir Frckoski took 35 per cent and 20 per cent of the vote respectively, with Ivanov now backed to win this coming Sunday.
Macedonia, a Balkan by-blow of the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, was spared the ethnic conflicts that tore this country’s incompatible ethnias apart in the early Nineties but trouble arrived in 2001 with an uprising of the ethnic Albanians. Accounting for a quarter of the population, they demanded greater rights and their clashes with the Macedonian majority finally won territory for the rebels but created thousands of refugees.
Relations between both communities have improved noticeably since then and 2004 legislation modified former boundaries, granting ethnic Albanians more self-sufficiency.
A year later Brussels agreed that Macedonia could put itself forward as a candidate for EU membership. Despite the progress made and Macedonia’s awareness that it has to keep its political nose clean, the parliamentary elections of June 2008 were marred by gun battles amongst ethnic Albanians. One person died and several were wounded amidst claims of vote-rigging, and international observers declared that the poll did not comply with international standards.
In contrast, the March 22 election was described as practically violence-free although cynics pointed out that the post of president is non-political and less likely to inflame passions and partisanship. This trend will have to continue as an incident-free poll next Sunday is vital for Macedonia’s EU ambitions, together with its hopes of NATO membership. Both aims are opposed by neighbouring Greece which suspects that the very name of Macedonia betrays territorial aspirations to acquire the Greek region with the same name.
Pre-first round surveys last month showed apathetic voters disinclined to vote, claiming that all seven candidates made vague assurances without promising anything new. Around 17 per cent who answered one pre-election assessment said they had little motivation to vote and a further 14 per cent admitted that they had none at all.
In fact, 56 per cent of the 1.8 million Macedonians who were eligible to vote turned out for the first round and with the field narrowed down to two candidates on April 5, there should be less reluctance to make a choice.
The peaceful first-round poll should also encourage voters who were deterred by the violence of last June but want to see the EU and NATO doors swing open to a future that is more stable and affluent than the present.

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