Noch auf Europakurs? – Mazedonien nach den vorgezogenen Parlamentswahlen vom 5. Juni 2011
Still Heading for Europe? – Macedonia after the Early Parliamentary Elections of 5 June 2011

Summary/Abstract: After many months of political deadlock in Macedonia, another early parliamentary election was held on 5 June 2011. The winners were Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and his ruling party VMRO-DPMNE with 39 percent of the vote but a loss of the absolute majority in parliament. The opposition Social Democrats (SDSM) clearly lost but nonetheless will more than double their representation in parliament after voters abandoned smaller parties boosting SDSM’s position to 33 percent of the votes. VMRO-DPMNE is now even more dependent on its Albanian coalition partner DUI, which is seen as having a stronger stand than before. Although international observers assessed the Macedonian elections as competitive, transparent and free, democratic principles like freedom of the press are threatened by Gruevski’s increasingly autocratic style of government. So far, the EU candidate since 2005 has failed to open membership talks due to Greek objections to the former Yugoslav Republic’s name. A continuation of the autocratic and nationalist policy of the incumbent government puts the European perspective and transformation of Macedonia at risk and jeopardizes the country’s internal stability.

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