Macedonia's parliament will likely be dissolved by Wednesday ahead of the snap elections on April 27.
Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has agreed to early general elections next month after his ruling coalition failed to agree on a presidential candidate.
"For the sake of state and national interest I accept early parliamentary elections to be held" on April 27, Gruevski told a meeting of his VMRO-DPMNE party, paving the way for a possible split with the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI).
The smaller ethnic Albanian party had called for snap polls after rejecting an April 13 re-election bid by President Gjorge Ivanov, the candidate backed by Gruesvski's conservative VMRO-DPMNE.
Local media said parliament will likely be dissolved by Wednesday ahead of the snap elections on April 27, when a presidential run-off would also be held if no winner emerges on April 13.
A voter survey in December showed the ruling party would win 59 of the 123 seats in parliament in early elections, to 36 for the opposition Social Democrats.
Gruevski's cabinet has been in power since June 2011.
Relations between Macedonians and ethnic Albanians have been strained since the end of a seven-month conflict in 2001 that pitted the landlocked Balkan country's armed forces against ethnic Albanian rebels.
Ethnic Albanians make up some 25 per cent of Macedonia's population of two million.
Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has agreed to early general elections next month after his ruling coalition failed to agree on a presidential candidate.
"For the sake of state and national interest I accept early parliamentary elections to be held" on April 27, Gruevski told a meeting of his VMRO-DPMNE party, paving the way for a possible split with the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI).
The smaller ethnic Albanian party had called for snap polls after rejecting an April 13 re-election bid by President Gjorge Ivanov, the candidate backed by Gruesvski's conservative VMRO-DPMNE.
Local media said parliament will likely be dissolved by Wednesday ahead of the snap elections on April 27, when a presidential run-off would also be held if no winner emerges on April 13.
A voter survey in December showed the ruling party would win 59 of the 123 seats in parliament in early elections, to 36 for the opposition Social Democrats.
Gruevski's cabinet has been in power since June 2011.
Relations between Macedonians and ethnic Albanians have been strained since the end of a seven-month conflict in 2001 that pitted the landlocked Balkan country's armed forces against ethnic Albanian rebels.
Ethnic Albanians make up some 25 per cent of Macedonia's population of two million.
Comments
Post a Comment