Yearbook 2006
Northern Macedonia (until 2019 Macedonia). Parliament
approved a number of amendments to the electoral law in
March, following pressure from the EU in response to reports
of serious irregularities in connection with local elections
in 2005.
According to
CountryAAH, violence occurred during the election campaign before the
parliamentary elections in July, which raised concerns in
Macedonia where ethnic contradictions were leading to full
civil war only five years earlier. The violence occurred
mainly between supporters of the two major Albanian parties,
but also between Albanians and ethnic Macedonians and in
some cases even between the largest Macedonian parties. From
the EU and NATO came sharp warnings that the coveted
membership of both organizations required political calm.
The violence subsided and the election was then carried out
without more serious incidents. Foreign observers considered
it to be conducted in accordance with democratic principles.
The result led to a change of government.
The conservative VMRO-DPMNE won by close to one-third of
the vote. The Government Coalition Together for Macedonia
was only supported by just under a quarter of the electorate
and lost almost half of its seats. The largest Albanian
party BDI, which was part of the outgoing government
coalition, demanded a seat in the new government and
protested violently when this was not the case. Instead,
VMRO-DPMNE formed government with the Albanian PDSH and
several other small parties. New Prime Minister Nikola
Gruevski, who promised to continue on the path to the EU and
NATO.
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