Macedonia Set for Early Elections as Parliament Dissolved

President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso (L) gestures during the press conference with Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski (R) in Ohrid, April 9, 2011 EPA/BGNES

Macedonia's Parliament was dissolved in Skopje late Thursday night in the latest stage of the country's political crisis.

Parliament Chair Trajko Veljonovski is expected to schedule a date for early parliamentary elections on Friday.

A total of 79 MPs were present in the 120-seat Macedonian Parliament, and all of them voted in favor of its dissolution, BGNES reported. The most likely date for the snap polls is June 5, 2011.

The opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia did not take part in the voting; it has been boycotting the work of the Parliament over a number of demands.

SDUM chair, former president and former PM Branko Crvenkovski has been insisting on early elections; this demand was accepted by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski from the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party but a number of the opposition's demands were snubbed, especially with respect to the election code.

Gruevski did agree to appointing a member of the SDUM as head of the State Electoral Commission. Two days ago the Macedonian Parliament voted the final changes to the election code.

During his visit to Macedonia at the beginning of the week, the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso called for the holding of democratic and free elections, and urged the political elite in the country to find a solution to Macedonia's notorious name dispute with Greece.

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