Volume 9 Numbers 1/2

Winter/Spring 2000

Constitutional Watch
     A country-by-country update on constitutional politics in Eastern Europe and the ex-USSR

Macedonia - That Macedonia can maintain its territorial integrity without a strong NATO and UN presence is still questioned by some observers. The two largest ethnic groups-Macedonians and Albanians, who respectively constitute 67 and 23 percent of the popula-tion- are under enormous pressure from the international community to employ political means for resolving their conflicts while keeping nationalist senti-ments damped down. Still, the recent presidential election, the murder of three policemen in Aracinovo (two of whom were ethnic Macedonians) near the border with Kosovo, and an attack on a police station in Kicevo underscore the fragile balance between the two groups. Ethnic Albanians point out that, while they make up almost one-fourth of the country's population, they represent only 2 percent of university graduates and 6 percent of government officials. Moreover, the issue of Kosovo also deeply divides the country along ethnic lines. While nearly all ethnic Macedonians insist that Kosovo should remain within Yugoslavia, the country's ethnic Albanian community strongly supports the province's independence. Even Arber Xaferri, leader of the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA), which is a coalition of the Party for Democratic Prosperity of Albanians (PDPA) and the National Democratic Party (NDP) and belongs to the governing coalition, argues that Kosovo should become an inde-pendent, sovereign state.

In the presidential election held on November 14, Boris Trajkovski, who represented the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (IMRO- DPMNU)-the dominant party in the governing coali-tion- won 53 percent of the vote. (See Macedonia Update, EECR, Vol. 8, No. 4, Fall 1999.) The opposi-tion, however, was quick to point to irregularities in the ballot and requested the electoral commission to investi-gate numerous allegations of fraud. Most of the reported irregularities occurred in districts overwhelm-ingly populated by ethnic Albanians, mingling the electoral controversy with ethnic tensions. The interna-tional community, including an EU delegation and the OSCE monitoring mission in Macedonia, urged voters to overlook these instances of fraud, sending a clear signal that interethnic stability was more important than alleged electoral fraud concerning just 10 percent of the votes. Nonetheless, opposition candidate Tito Petkovski, who had come in second in the presidential ballot, and his party (Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia [SDAM]), pressed their allegations. The party had more than 300 formal complaints, of which the State Electoral Commission (SEC) accepted only 34. (SDAM, which is the heir to the former communist party and refers to itself as "social democrat," constitutes the majority of the opposition. The Liberal Democratic Party, which dominates the city council in Skopje and is a centrist party, and the Liberal Party, the actual liberal option in Macedonia, are also part of the opposition.)

In accordance with the electoral law, the SEC has 48 hours in which to consider complaints. After this period, parties that are unsatisfied with the SEC's deci-sion can appeal to the Supreme Court. SDAM did just this, and for the first time since free elections were held in Macedonia, the Supreme Court decided on November 28 that reelections should be organized in 240 election units, in 24 election districts, with 160,000 registered voters. Some Macedonians were offended that the inter- national community was quick to congratulate Boris Trajkovski before the rescheduled elections were held. The opposition paper Utrinski Vesnik even accused the US and EU of fueling ethnic conflict and supporting a policy that could lead to the division of Macedonia.

The voting was repeated on December 5. Since irregularities were expected, the SEC requested that police be present at election sites. But the police pres-ence was not sufficient to prevent conflicts in Vaksince, Velesta, and Labuniste, where ten people were injured, three of them seriously. In protest, SDAM withdrew its members from the election posts before the voting was complete. In the 24 election districts where a makeup election was held, 98 percent of the voters chose Trajkovski, who thus maintained his victory and was named president. After the election, he was quick to publicize his commitment to European legal standards and the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

After the final results were made public, the EU sent an official request to all political parties in Macedonia asking that they respect the electoral results. The Macedonian government accepted the OSCE's conclusion that the electoral procedure was largely satis-factory, despite some minor irregularities. The OSCE's report concluded that the presidential election had been the most poorly organized election in the short history of postcommunist Macedonia but refused to proclaim it invalid. The opposition SDAM finally conceded defeat and accepted the results; but its members pointedly refused to attend Trajkovski's inauguration.

After the presidential election, the leaders of the three parties in the governing coalition-Ljubco Georgievski (IMRO-DPMNU), Vasil Tupurkovski (Democratic Alternative [DA]), and Arber Xaferri (Democratic Party of Albanians [DPA])-signed a new power-sharing agreement, aimed, in part, at rewarding Albanian voters for supporting IMRO-DPMNU. DPA was given a vice-premiership and also took over the Ministry of Justice from DA. In addition, the govern-ment agreed to legalize the Albanian university in Tetovo and gave the Albanian minority a television channel. DA received a vice-premiership and control of economic policy, while IMRO-DPMNU acquired the Ministry of the Interior from DA.

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In January, two events threatened the country's fragile ethnic stability. The first ended tragically, when three policemen (two of whom were ethnic Macedonians while the third was of mixed Turkish-Albanian ethnicity), who were on night patrol, were killed in Aracinovo, a village populated mostly by ethnicAlbanians. (Albanians are present in the lower ranks of police in numbers relative to their proportion of the population. This is largely not the case, however, in the higher ranks.) After a two-week investigation and almost 200 arrests, the police announced that 11 Albanians were being charged with murder. One person, an Albanian from Aracinovo, died in custody while being interrogated by the police. The police claimed that the cause of death was a heart attack, but the Helsinki Committee accused the police of exces-sive force. An autopsy was performed, but the results were not made public. Soon afterward, unidentified persons fired a 64-mm rocket at a police station in Oslomej, a village in western Macedonia populated by ethnic Macedonians. No casualties were reported, and most assume that the attack was in retaliation for the police action in Aracinovo. * At a meeting in Brussels, on October 25, EU ministers gave a green light for the beginning of talks with the Macedonian government on a stabilization and associa-tion agreement. In addition to the massive acquis communautaire, which all states aspiring for EU member-ship must swallow whole, the Balkan nations were given an additional requirement-stabilization, meaning regional cooperation among the Balkan states. Talks continue with the IMF on the closing or selling of 12 unprofitable factories that are wholly dependent on state assistance. The government has been unable to find buyers and is thus postponing the closures, which would certainly fuel unemployment, already above 35 percent. Yet the country is in dire need of IMF support, which will release funds only if it is satisfied with the government's progress on reform. Once the IMF gives its approval, Macedonia can expect about 80 million euros from the EU, some of which would be used to repay previous debts, while the rest would be used to fund reforms in the civil-service sector (45,000 employees are slated to be let go). There seems to be no way to please the IMF and EU without putting even more Macedonians out of work.

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