Macedonia’s parliament voted to disband in the early hours of April 12 and hold snap elections on June 1.

Prime minister Nikola Grouevski called the elections after Skopje’s dispute with neighbouring Greece prevented Macedonia from receiving an invitation to join Nato last week.

Despite politicians in Brussels and Washington calling on Macedonia to focus on resolving its name row with Greece instead of elections during the past week, 70 members of Parliament (MPs) voted in favour of disbanding the legislature.

Opposition lawmakers in the 120-seat parliament walked out before the vote, the Press Association said.
"[Ruling party] VMRO, the government and I personally, as well as the intellectuals, experts and everybody else in this country will continue to assist Macedonia, to fight for [membership of] Nato and European Union and to do the utmost for our country and national interests," Grouevski said, as quoted by the Press Association.

Greece vetoed Macedonia's bid to join Nato over the name dispute with Skopje, refusing to accept its neighbour’s constitutional name, saying Macedonia is the name of Northern Greece and that having Skopje use it is indicative of its implicit territorial claims over the northern Greek province.