TIRANA – As the State Elections Commission (SEC) announced Thursday the unofficial final results of Wednesday’s early parliamentary elections, it becomes clearer the after-election panorama in North Macedonia.
The pro-European Union Social Democrats (SMS)-led coalition “We Can” has won 46 seats, and they said that they were ready Thursday to kickstart coalition talks, paving the way for tough power-sharing negotiations after the center-left party narrowly edged out their conservative rivals.
The VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition got 44 seats, while the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI gained 15 seats taking the third place on the political scene of North Macedonia. The Alliance for Albanians/Alternative won 12 seats, Levica-2 and Democratic Party of Albanian (DPA)-1.
Addressing cheering supporters in the capital Skopje, Mr. Zoran Zaev promised fast reforms to help the country’s European Union accession hopes end revive the battered economy.
With the razor-thin margin, VMRO-DPMNE said they could ultimately emerge winners in coalition negotiations and form a government.
Not so long ago, after the elections in 2016, DUI decided to ditch their coalition with the conservatives in favor of the Social Democrats. This ended nearly ten years of VMRO-DPMNE rule, a period marked by repression and corruption under former strongman Nikola Gruevski, now in self-imposed exile, said analysts.
A similar scenario this time would put the country on a pro-Western path. After concluding the historic name deal with Greece – adding “North” to Macedonia – there is no doubt that SDSM and DUI will continue their policy of reconciliation with the country’s Balkan neighbors, while hoping for a quick accession to the EU.
Wednesday’s vote is the ninth parliamentary election since the Balkan republic of 2 million people declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.
The election result could take the recently renamed country a step closer to EU accession, should the Social Democrats hold onto its lead./news agencies-argumentum.al
