Turkish party wins municipality in Macedonian elections

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia

A Turkish party has won a municipality in Macedonia’s recent local elections.

Unofficial results from Sunday’s second-round voting revealed Ariyan Ibrahim, who served as TDP mayor of the Central Jupa municipality in the western part of the country, had been re-elected in the first round, receiving 70.48 percent of the vote.

In the first round of voting on Oct. 15, voters elected 46 mayors out of 81 municipalities and 35 mayors in the second round.

According to preliminary results released by the State Election Commission, the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) won 57, the Democratic Union of Integration (BDI) 10, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE) five, the Alliance for Albanians three, the BESA Movement, the Albanian Democratic Party (PDSH) and TDP one each, and independent candidates won three municipalities.

Nineteen political parties, coalitions and independent candidates took part. In the first round, 1.8 million voters chose mayors and council members. Meanwhile, over 830,000 voters took part in a second round in municipalities where candidates failed to win more than 50 percent in the first round.

Turnout was almost 60 percent in the first round and nearly 52 percent in the second.

Opposition VMRO-DPMNE party chairman Nikola Gruevski called for an early general election, saying they did not accept the results on the grounds that irregularities had been committed in local elections.