Macedonia Gets New Parliament after Snap Polls

Macedonia's new parliament, dominated by the conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, was sworn in on Saturday, paving the way for a new government to be formed in the EU-hopeful landlocked Balkan state.

VMRO-DPMNE won 61 of 123 parliamentary seats in the April 27 snap poll, called after it failed to agree with its coalition partner, the ethnic Albanian DUI party, over a joint presidential candidate.

However, the two parties agreed on Saturday to join forces again in a coalition government, expected to be formed by June 16 at the latest.

One of the main tasks for the new government will be to kickstart Macedonia's attempts to gain membership of the EU and NATO, blocked for years over a name dispute with neighboring Greece.

Greece has a northern province historically called Macedonia, and the two countries have been at loggerheads over the right to use the name ever since the former Yugoslav republic proclaimed independence in 1991.

Analysts say Skopje can either strike an unpopular deal with Greece or risk continued economic and political damage for the country, a EU candidate since 2005.

VMRO-DPMNE's main rival, the center-left Social Democrats (SDSM), warned the new government had no "strategy" to solve a name-row with Greece.

SDSM won 34 seats in April polls, but refused to attend the ceremonial parliament session on Saturday, citing alleged irregularities during the polls.

SDSM leader Zoran Zaev said the party would decide over its future moves at the convention on Sunday.

While electoral officials said there were no irregularities that could have affected the result, international observers registered "shortcomings" during and after the vote.

Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)observers warned of a "blurring of state and party activities and biased and unbalanced media coverage in favor of the ruling party" before and during the polls.

On April 27, the ruling party's Gjorge Ivanov was also reelected to the largely ceremonial post of president with a five-year mandate.

He is expected to re-take his post on Monday.