Sat, Feb 11 2012

Macedonia poised for elections run-off on April 5

Sat, Apr 04 2009 13:02 CET

byClive Leviev-Sawyer

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Macedonia poised for elections run-off on April 5

BACKING: On April 2 2009, workers put up a poster of Macedonia's prime minister Nikola Gruevski in support of ruling party VMRO-DPMNE candidate Koce Trajanovski, who is standing for mayor of Skopje.


Macedonians return to the polls on April 5 2009 for run-off presidential and mayoral elections.

About 1.79 million people are eligible to vote, according to official figures.

Opinion polls say that they will vote to make professor Georgi Ivanov of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE coalition the next president, defeating social democrat and fellow professor Ljubomir Frckovski.

Voter turnout must be at least 40 per cent for presidential elections to be valid. First-round turnout was 54 per cent but there has been some concern that second-round turnout may be lower because those eliminated the first time round have not wanted to endorse either of the finalist candidates.

Voting stations will be open from 7am until 7pm local time.

A second round of mayoral elections in being held in the capital city Skopje and in 43 municipalities. There is no voter turnout requirement in these elections.

A day of contemplation was being held on April 4 during which campaigning was not allowed.

Balkan Insight said that this election is regarded as a crucial test for Macedonia’s democratic credentials, as the 2008 parliamentary election was marred by violence that gave the country a negative image in the west.

The EU said that Macedonia must ensure a peaceful and democratic election this year, if it hopes to speed up its accession process.

External observers confirmed that the first round of elections met international standards.

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