Post by Bozur on Apr 11, 2005 15:01:02 GMT -5
FYROM returns to the polls in runoff
First and second rounds marred by irregularities
By Konstantin Testorides - The Associated Press
SKOPJE - Voters in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) went to the polls yesterday — some for the third time in a month — as this tiny Balkan nation held the latest round of local elections repeatedly marred by voting irregularities.
International monitors and the US State Department have urged the government to improve on previous election days.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe reported ballot stuffing and voter intimidation in the March 13 first round. Two weeks later, similar problems dogged second-round runoffs and first-round reruns ordered by the country’s Supreme Court at 33 polling stations.
About a third of registered voters were eligible to vote yesterday. Sixty-five out of 85 mayoral races have finished, but the two biggest municipalities — Skopje and the ethnic Albanian stronghold of Tetovo — remained up for grabs.
Opposition-backed businessman Trifun Kostovski, 58, was expected to win in the capital, Skopje, after his opponent, government-backed Risto Penov, 47, unofficially withdrew from the race.
Penov’s name is still on ballot slips after the election commission said Penov — the current mayor of Skopje — could not formally withdraw at this late stage.
Rival ethnic Albanian parties were competing in Tetovo — the Democratic Party of Albanians and the Democratic Union for Integration. Although DPA candidates’ names appeared on ballot slips, DPA spokesman Sulejman Rushiti said the party would boycott the second round in protest at irregularities in the first round.
The local elections are a test for reforms drawn up after a 2001 insurgency by ethnic Albanian rebels that convulsed the landlocked nation of 2.1 million people. Ethnic Albanians make up about a quarter of FYROM’s population.
The stakes are high with FYROM seeking to
www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=55046
First and second rounds marred by irregularities
By Konstantin Testorides - The Associated Press
SKOPJE - Voters in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) went to the polls yesterday — some for the third time in a month — as this tiny Balkan nation held the latest round of local elections repeatedly marred by voting irregularities.
International monitors and the US State Department have urged the government to improve on previous election days.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe reported ballot stuffing and voter intimidation in the March 13 first round. Two weeks later, similar problems dogged second-round runoffs and first-round reruns ordered by the country’s Supreme Court at 33 polling stations.
About a third of registered voters were eligible to vote yesterday. Sixty-five out of 85 mayoral races have finished, but the two biggest municipalities — Skopje and the ethnic Albanian stronghold of Tetovo — remained up for grabs.
Opposition-backed businessman Trifun Kostovski, 58, was expected to win in the capital, Skopje, after his opponent, government-backed Risto Penov, 47, unofficially withdrew from the race.
Penov’s name is still on ballot slips after the election commission said Penov — the current mayor of Skopje — could not formally withdraw at this late stage.
Rival ethnic Albanian parties were competing in Tetovo — the Democratic Party of Albanians and the Democratic Union for Integration. Although DPA candidates’ names appeared on ballot slips, DPA spokesman Sulejman Rushiti said the party would boycott the second round in protest at irregularities in the first round.
The local elections are a test for reforms drawn up after a 2001 insurgency by ethnic Albanian rebels that convulsed the landlocked nation of 2.1 million people. Ethnic Albanians make up about a quarter of FYROM’s population.
The stakes are high with FYROM seeking to
www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=55046