Macedonians in 15 polling stations vote again for parliament

29/06/2008

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Voters in 15 polling stations went to the polls Sunday (June 29th) for the third time in a month to elect parliament members. The June 1st voting had to be repeated on June 15th due to major violations and violence in these regions, some of which occurred again that day. A total of 14,551 people or 0.82% of all Macedonians are eligible to participate in this third try. The coalition led by incumbent Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of the VMRO-DPMNE secured a majority in parliament early on. The party is negotiating with leaders of the two ethnic Albanian parties -- the Democratic Union for Integration and the Democratic Party of Albanians -- in an effort to form a government. Talks may continue until mid-July. (MIA, Makfax, Focus - 29/06/08; Netpress, A1 - 28/06/08)