MACEDONIA

Goran Mihajlovski looks at the programs of the political parties for the forthcoming elections in Macedonia.

Encircled by very delicate circumstances, such as the Kosovo crisis and the instability in Albania, in a manner which is somewhat strange for Balkan conditions, the politicians of Macedonian parties, as well as the leaders of the Albanian political bloc, seem to be lowering the tension concerning the inter - national problems. This is not just the case with electoral conventions of the largest parties and first meetings. Even the cursory reading of the electoral programs confirms the intention that these questions be set aside, and that more room is given to the so called day-to-day problems.

Does this approach to the electoral campaign show that the parties are intentionally ignoring this problem so that they could secure fair and peaceful elections, or have the national problems been pushed too much upfront ?

The largest opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE which is seen as the most "national" of all Macedonian parties and which has been often winning its sympathizers on the "Albanian question," has completely changed its stance in these elections. The leader of this party, Ljupco Georgijevski has said on a number of occasions that his party would not form a government in which there would be representatives of the Albanian political parties in Macedonia, but he did not exclude the possibility to offer ministerial posts to an ethnic Albanian who is nominated by another party. Due to this, coalition with Democratic Alternative of Vasil Tupurkovski (a party of stressed civic orientation) suits Georgijevski - since DA has in its ranks ethnic Albanians, and since it has its electoral lists in 17 electoral units with predominantly Albanian population.

So, VMRO-DPMNE gave up on those electoral units in Western Macedonia in which, traditionally,as a counter to Albanian national parties, Macedonians voted for this party. In that manner, Georgijevski gave up on fiery campaign meetings which he held during previous elections and on nationalistic slogans. While the rest expected that VMRO-DPMNE will play on the card of accusations for divided Macedonia, that it will criticize the existence of the illegal Tetovo university and that it will promise its closure, its coalition partners speak of quality education, respect of universal human rights and rule of law on the whole territory of the state.

The ruling party - Socialdemocratic Union of Macedonia has only some 15 lines in its electoral program dealing with inter - ethnic relations. This party has so far ruled in coalition with the PDP party, which gave five ministers of Albanian origin in the Macedonian government. SDSM has lost votes in between the two voting rounds during the first Macedonian multiparty elections in 1990. when VMRO-DPMNE went into an offensive campaign through Western Macedonia, scaring the people that the social democrats will sell the state to the Albanians. The ruling party has throughout the years been susceptible to criticism that it is lenient towards the Albanians. That is why it is almost incomprehensible that there were no such attacks so far in the electoral campaign.

The social democrats could have problems coming from their coalition partners - the PDP, which entered into coalition with the other larger Albanian party - DPA. The Albanian Democratic party and their leader Arren Dzferi have an image of radicalism in Macedonia. They are accused of the unrest in Gostivar last year, for ignoring the Macedonian state by not displaying the state flags and other symbols, while the arrested mayors of Gostivar and Tetovo, Rufi Osmani and Alajdin Demiri are members of this party. DPA is still awaiting its official registration. Due to this, it is still unclear whether the SDSM leader and current prime minister Branko Crvenkovski still counts on the partnership of the PDP leader Abdurahman Haliti , now that he has joined with the so called radicals, which the SDS has criticized itself. This could be a serious problem for SDSM, since this party has stated on a number of occasions that the Macedonian government cannot be envisaged wit a few ministers - Macedonian Albanians.

Even though the two largest political parties of the Albanians, through this coalition are going down the road of homogenization of their voters with the ethnic logic: "It is not important who you are voting for, as long as he is Albanian," they approached their campaigns so for with visible lessening of tensions. The coalition has announced that it will fight for its goals exclusively through the institutions of the system, which shows that it is not ignoring the Macedonian state. During its electoral convention, the PDP went even further in softening its stance. Along with the Albanian flag, Macedonian flag was also present, but also the list of candidates also included a number of women, which was almost impossible for the traditional Albanian community.

Still, there is a lot of time left until October 18. Nobody can say how things will develop in Kosovo and Albania and whether this will have its effect on the events in Macedonia. Only one statement, a thoughtless slogan or a cry are enough to start an avalanche.


Source: Independent news pool "AIM," September 18, 1998