Pro-western Politician Wins Macedonian Election

Center-left Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski triumphed over Sasko Kedev of the nationalist Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Party (VMRO) in presidential elections Wednesday. But with allegations of fraud, lingering ethnic tensions and high unemployment, the new president faces many challenges.

With a turnout of 53 percent -- more than the 50 percent required to make the election valid -- Crvenkovski won 62 percent of the vote. His challenger, Kedev, won just 37 percent.

Crvenkovski hailed the election as a key step forward in Macedonia's journey towards democracy since winning independence from Yugoslavia 13 years ago. "Macedonia has passed another test in democracy today," he told his supporters. "There are no winners or losers in Macedonia today. Defeated are those who have called for a boycott of the vote."

Fraud allegations

But his challenger Kedev does not believe the elections were a shining example of democracy in action and has challenged the results. "We will never recognize the self-proclaimed president," said Kedev, who says his party will provide solid evidence of wrongdoing, including stuffing of the ballot boxes.

A spokeswomen for Crvenkovski, however, denied the allegations. "This was a fair and democratic election," said Radmila Sekerinska. Macedonia's state election commission has -- as yet -- not commented on the controversy.

The run-off elections followed the first round of elections two weeks ago, which narrowed the field of contenders from four candidates to two. The two ethnic Albanian candidates -- Albanians comprise a quarter of the country's population -- were eliminated during the first round.

Challenges ahead

In addition to the controversy surrounding the election, the newly-elected president will face many challenges, including unemployment estimated by some experts to be as high as 40 percent and shepherding his country towards eventual EU membership.

His greatest challenge by far will be quelling ethnic tensions between the majority Macedonians and ethnic Albanians, which nearly brought the country to the brink of civil war three years ago and continue to bubble under the surface.

In 2001, the now President Boris Trajkovski who was killed in a plane crash three months ago, presided over a peace deal. However, fears persist that troubles in neighboring Kosovo -- the U.N.-administered province of primarily ethnic Albanians who are demanding independence from Serbia -- could spill over into Macedonia and re-ignite a conflict. Last month, fighting erupted once again in Kosovo.

As he takes over the post from the highly-regarded Trajkovski, Crvenkovski will concentrate on making ethnic tensions a thing of the past.