The profound victory and challenges of VMRO-DPMNE after the elections

2024-05-09 18:52:14, Kosova & Bota CNA

The VMRO-DPMNE party scored a deep victory in yesterday's parliamentary and presidential elections in North Macedonia. It took 58 out of 120 seats in the parliament. Meanwhile, the Social Democratic League is considered the biggest loser; it managed to get 18 legislator seats, 1 less than the Democratic Union for Integration with the European Front coalition. Meanwhile, VMRO's Gordana Siljanovska Davkova is set to be the first female president in North Macedonia.

Even the top officials of the conservative VMRO-DPMNE did not expect a deep victory in the double elections. But, seeing the great defeat of the social-democrats, it seems that yesterday's vote was a measure of punishment for them.

VMRO-DPMNE, with the number of MPs it secured, is expected to find it very easy to form a government, and for this reason, it seems that the coalition of Albanian parties known as "VLEN" is looking forward to it. The chairman of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickovski, warned last night that starting today, meetings regarding the new government can begin. VLEN managed to secure 13 MP seats.

On the other hand, the Democratic Union for Integration with the European Front coalition emerged as the second political force in the country, with 19 seats of legislators out of 120 in the parliament, but nevertheless VMRO is against the presence of its former partner in the expected government cabinet.

VMRO-DPMNE celebrates the victory of the parliamentary and presidential elections
May 9, 07:48

The head of DUI, Ali Ahmeti does not seem to want to accept the role of the opposition. He says that the will of the people expressed in the votes preserves the stability, security and future of the country. The European Front won 30,000 more votes than the VLEN coalition. But the latter qualifies those votes of minority communities, Turkish, Roma, Bosnian, etc.

The Social Democratic League, with 153,000 votes and 18 legislators, recorded the worst result ever recorded in the elections, since the country's independence.

The party called 'Znam' won 6 seats in the parliament and it has expressed its willingness to be part of the government, but on the condition that DUI is not included in it. In such a case, the new parliamentary majority would have 77 votes in parliament, very close to two-thirds. the other nationalist party "E Majta" also won 6 seats in the parliament, but it is also not desirable as a partner in the executive power.

A number of challenges await the VMRO, among them the issue of constitutional changes, resistance to which seems to have secured it a landslide victory.

Although VMRO received over 430,000 votes in yesterday's elections, on the other hand, there is skepticism among some residents about its policies against EU integration:

"I don't expect anything, nothing. Because they will turn us back instead of progressing towards the European Union", says a resident of Skopje.

VMRO-DPMNE announces the victory of the parliament and the presidency
May 8, 22:44

"We will see if they stick to their promises", comments another resident.

Analysts estimate that VMRO's deep victory is primarily the result of the party's rejection of constitutional changes, which are nevertheless the key to the country's advancement towards the EU.

Simonida Kacarska says that VMRO's approach to these changes remains to be seen:

"There is a consensus from the Albanian parties that they will not enter into a coalition with several parties. There may be movement" , says the analyst, adding that VMRO will have much more power in all areas of society:

"There are concerns about her (VMRO's) governance in the past, at the end of 2016; there are concerns about how this will materialize, but I think we all hope that some valuable lessons have been learned from that period" , says the analyst.

North Macedonia will have its first female president. Gordana Siljanovska Davkova received 560 thousand votes or 65% against the current president Stevo Pendarovski who secured just over 250 thousand votes or 29 percent. Mr. Pendarovski blames the DUI for the silent boycott of the presidential elections, while on the other hand it is likely that the supporters of the VLEN coalition voted for Mrs. Siljanovska, which is what the high numbers speak for. It has rarely happened that a Macedonian party reaches over 500,000 votes in the entire post-independence period.

The observer mission of the ODIHR, the Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council and the European Parliament in the early evaluation describe the process as competitive while fundamental freedoms were respected, but that deficiencies remain:

"Electoral legislation provides an adequate framework for holding democratic elections, but persistent inconsistencies, loopholes and ambiguities threaten legal certainty," Nikoloz Samkharadze, representative of OSCE observers, told a press conference.

Observers note the presence of negative and nationalist rhetoric in the campaign./ VOA