Macedonia repeats June 1st vote at 187 polling stations

15/06/2008

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Macedonian voters on Sunday (June 15th) cast ballots in a revote forced by major violations and armed violence during the June 1st elections. Those incidents occurred in areas predominantly populated by ethnic Albanians. Some 161,874 people or 10% of Macedonians with voting rights will be able to vote again in the 187 affected polling stations. Skopje decided to hold a revote after the OSCE, the EU and the US urged it to do so. EU special representative to Skopje Erwan Fouere said on Saturday that Sunday's vote will be Macedonia's last chance to prove its capability of organising and holding elections free of violence. Experts said that the revote will not change the position of the leaders but may affect the positions of the Albanian Democratic Union for Integration and the Democratic Party of Albanians. VMRO-DPMNE leader and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, warning against any repeated abuses, warned, "The VMRO-DPMNE will not enter a coalition with any political party that wins mandates in parliament illegally." He added that the ruling coalition may even go without an Albanian partner if necessary. (Makfax, A1, MIA, AP, AFP, RIA Novosti - 15/06/08)