Macedonia's opposition elects new leader

TIRANA, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The largest opposition party in Macedonia, VMRO-DPMNE, elected late Saturday Hristijan Mickoski as its new party leader.

Mickoski, current VMRO-DPMNE secretary general, was elected at the party's extraordinary congress, garnering the votes of 376 delegates out of 428 that attended the voting.

Mickoski, the only candidate running for the party leader post, replaced former prime minister and VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski.

The new leader said in his address at congress that his main goal was to consolidate the party to score a victory at the next elections.

"Now is the time to be united to meet the expectations and demands of VMRO-DPMNE and Macedonia. New energy is required as our citizens wish for brightness and hope," Mickoski said.

Mickoski further noted that Macedonia's future is within the European Union and NATO, while he stressed that the country should make real progress and resolve the problems via dialogue.

VMRO-DPMNE delegates attending the congress declared Gruevski for the party's honorary leader.

Gruevski resigned few days ago, taking over responsibility for the loss in the last elections that send VMRO-DPMNE to opposition. Enditem