MACEDONIA: Macedonia's left-of-centre opposition party has out-polled the ruling right-wing nationalists in a general election, according to an exit poll sponsored by a Washington-based organisation.
The International Republican Institute poll forecast that the Social Democrats of Mr Branko Crvenkovski would take about 41 per cent of the vote, against about 24 per cent for the party of Prime Minister Mr Ljubco Georgievski, IRI spokesman Mr Steven Susens said.
The poll also predicted that a newly established party led by former guerrilla leader Mr Ali Ahmeti had emerged clearly as the strongest representative of Macedonia's Albanian minority, which is guaranteed a share of power. "We are the winners. We have a huge lead in the regions of Skopje, Tetovo and Kumonovo," said Teuta Arifi, vice president of Mr Ahmeti's Democratic Union for Integration (DUI). There was no official word on the election outcome.
Western powers viewed the election as a crucial test for the peace agreement they brokered after six months of clashes in 2001, narrowly averting a new Balkan war.
The weeks leading up to the voting saw increased tension and violence, including the killing of three policemen. Election day was marred by the shooting of an Albanian party activist by a member of a rival Albanian group in a village south of Skopje, but his party said his life was not in danger.
Separately, armed men burst into a polling station in the western village of Lesok, assaulted an election official and stole the ballot box, shooting in the air as they sped off. However the incidents seemed to be isolated rather than part of an orchestrated attempt by extremists to wreck the vote.
The new government will face huge problems, including a struggling economy - gross domestic product fell by 4.6 per cent in 2001 and unemployment stands at 40 per cent - with widespread corruption and organised crime deterring foreign investors.
As the vote was seen as key for stability, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe deployed its largest monitoring mission yet of more than 800 observers.
It remains to be seen how the Macedonian majority will react to having Mr Ahmeti's party in parliament. His National Liberation Army laid down its arms under last year's peace deal, in return for legal measures to improve the minority's status.
He is regarded by many Albanians as a hero for fighting for the rights of the community making up roughly one-third of the population, living mainly in western Macedonia, but Macedonians still see him as a terrorist in a conflict which killed about 100 people and displaced tens of thousands. - (Reuters)