Roundup: Parliamentary elections campaign starts in Macedonia

The election campaign for parliamentary elections in Macedonia officially launched on Monday.

In the next 20 days, political parties and candidates will appeal to citizens, trying to win their vote at the elections scheduled for Dec. 11.

Six political parties and five coalition blocks entered the election race and nearly 1.8 million citizens have the right to vote.

VMRO-DPMNE, leader of the currently ruling coalition "For Better Macedonia," started the campaign with a rally in Ohrid on Monday evening.

The party seeks a fresh mandate from citizens with a promise to create 70,000 new jobs in the next four years.

"This will decrease the unemployment rate in the country to a historic level of 17-18 percent," its leader Nikola Gruevski said.

The main opposition party SDSM leads the coalition "Plan for Macedonia."

Crucial in its program are institutional reforms that are intended to guarantee rule of law and independence of the judiciary.

"Today we set the pillars of a new modern time. Everything that we will address in this campaign will be for the young people and because of the young people," its leader Zoran Zaev said.

Aside these two major blocks, the Coalition for Changes and Justice, the block VMRO for Macedonia, the new party Left and the Liberal Party are also in the running for parliament.

The parties DUI, DPA, PDP, Besa and the coalition Alliance for the Albanians will target mainly the votes from the Albanian population in Macedonia.

These elections bear high importance for the country, as they are viewed as a way to end the deep political crisis in the country.

The European Union has signaled that these elections "represent an opportunity for the country to make a new beginning, to unite around its strategic goals and to return to its European integration path."

Experts say the elections are crucial for national attempts to end the political crisis, but expect the process will have to continue after the vote as well.

"With the elections we will probably see the end of the institutional part of the crisis, but in the period that follows many issues will remain open and we will have to solve many problems concerning the judiciary, the corruption, the economy," political analyst Ramadan Ramadani said.

Due to the significance of securing free and fair election process, the public prosecutor of the Republic of Macedonia formed a special commission that will engage in following trough all complaints for election irregularities.

The Office of the Ombudsman opened a special phone line where citizens can report violation of their voting rights. Most of the parties in the election race signed a code guaranteeing fair and democratic election process.

The election campaign will end on Dec. 9. Endit