2006 Macedonian parliamentary election

none Macedonia 2002 2008 All 120 seats in the Assembly 61 5 July 2006 yes For a Better Macedonia Nikola Gruevski 32.62 45 VMRO-DPMNE Together for Macedonia Vlado Bučkovski 23.40 32 #033A73 BDI–PPD Ali Ahmeti 12.16 16 Democratic Party of Albanians Arbën Xhaferi 7.53 11 VMRO – People's Party Vesna Janevska 6.11 6 New Social Democratic Party Tito Petkovski 6.06 7 Democratic Renewal Liljana Popovska mk Лилјана Поповска 1.86 1 Party for a European Future Fijat Canoski 1.21 1 Independents – 0.66 1 Prime Minister Prime Minister after election Vlado Bučkovski Social Democratic Union of Macedonia Nikola Gruevski VMRO-DPMNE Parliamentary elections were held in Macedonia on 5 July 2006. The VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition emerged as the largest group in the Assembly, winning 45 of the 120 seats. Its leader Nikola Gruevski became Prime Minister after forming a coalition government with the Democratic Party of Albanians, New Social Democratic Party, Democratic Renewal and the Party for a European Future. Electoral system The 120 seats were elected from six 20-seat constituencies by proportional representation.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p. 1276, 978-3-8329-5609-7 Seats were allocated using the d'Hondt method with an electoral threshold of 5%. Conduct The international community sent 6,000 observers to monitor electoral procedures, as NATO and European Union officials saw the elections as a key test of Macedonian ambitions of joining both organizations after local elections in March 2005 were marred by irregularities. The campaign was marked by serious cross-political confrontations, occasionally resulting in violence,Violence mars Macedonia campaign BBC News, 26 June 2006 mainly between the two major ethnic Albanian parties, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) and the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA). The situation was seen as seriously tarnishing the international reputation of the country. As the confrontations between the ethnic Albanian parties intensified, a diplomatic offensive from Western officials took place to put an end to the irregularities. These efforts were supported by the ethnic Macedonian parties, but also by calls from the Albanian and Kosovan prime ministers. However, the situation did not improve significantly. On 22 June 2006 there were clashes between the two major ethnic Macedonian parties VMRO-DPMNE and the SDSM in the center of Skopje. The representatives of the EU and the United States continued with their efforts to stop the irregularities. NATO warned the Macedonian government that pre-election violence risked delays to the country's ambitions to join the military alliance. Problems within the Macedonian bloc stopped immediately and incidents between the Albanian parties also progressively stopped. The last week of the campaign was calm, with almost no incidents. There were no major problems on election day, with only minor irregularities in the western part of the country. The counting of the votes also passed almost without any objections. The Macedonian government, the European Union and the United States dubbed the elections "a success". Results The results showed a clear victory for the coalition led by VMRO-DPMNE-led For a Better Macedonia coalition, which won 45 of the 120 seats. The centre-left Together for Macedonia coalition led by the SDSM won 35 seats. The majority of Albanian votes went to the DUI–PDP coalition (17 seats), while the DPA won 11 seats. Other parties that won seats included the New Social Democratic Party (7 seats), VMRO-NP (6 seats), Democratic Renewal of Macedonia (1 seat) and the Party for European Future (1 seat). For a Better MacedoniaOf the 45 seats won by the coalition, the VMRO-DPMNE won 38, the Socialist Party 3, the Liberal Party 2, the Democratic Union 1 and the Union of Roma in Macedonia 1. 304572 45 VMRO-DPMNE Together for MacedoniaOf the 32 seats won by the coalition, the Social Democratic Union won 23, the Liberal Democratic Party 5, the Democratic Party of Turks 2, the United Party of Romas in Macedonia 1 and the Democratic Party of Serbs in Macedonia 1. 218463 32 #033A73 Coalition BDI–PPD–DSBOf the 16 seats won by the coalition, the Democratic Union for Integration won 13 and the Party for Democratic Prosperity 3. 113522 16 Democratic Union for Integration Democratic Party of Albanians 70261 11 VMRO – People's Party 57077 6 New Social Democratic Party 56624 7 Democratic Renewal of Macedonia 17364 1 Party for Economic Renewal 12718 0 Agricultural People's Party of Macedonia mk Земјоделска народна партија на Македонија 12628 0 Party for a European Future 11255 1 Democratic Alternative 11067 0 Social Democratic Party 8226 0 National Democratic Party 4325 0 New Democratic Forces–Democratic Alliance of Albanians 4117 0 National Alternative 3325 0 Union of Tito's Left Forces 3071 0 red Democratic-Republican Union of Macedonia mk Демократско-републиканска унија на Македонија 2745 0 League for Democracy mk Лига за демократија 2663 0 Macedonian Party 2311 0 Permanent Macedonian Radical Unification mk Трајно македонско радикално обединување 1605 0 Radical Party of the Serbs in Macedonia 1413 0 United Macedonians 1324 0 Party for a Democratic Future 1280 0 Homeland Macedonian Organisation for Radical Renewal – Vardar–Aegean–Pirin mk Татковинска македонска организација за радикална обнова - Вардар - Егеј - Пирин TMORO–VEP 1280 0 VMRO – Democratic Party mk Внатрешна македонска револуционерна организација - Демократска партија 1206 0 Leftist Forces of Macedonia 992 0 Movement for National Unity of Turks mk Движење за национално единство на Турците во Македонија 620 0 Communist Party of Macedonia 598 0 Democratic Party of Macedonia–Tetovo 588 0 Centre of Democratic Forces 134 0 Democratic Party "Go Macedonia–Forza" 87 0 Independents 6164 1 37873 0 1741449 Slavic Research Centre Aftermath After unsuccessful negotiations between VMRO-DPMNE and DUI, VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski decided to form a government with the DPA. After a tough negotiation process (especially between VMRO-DPMNE and NSDP), in August 2006 Gruevski announced that the new government would be composed of VMRO-DPMNE, DPA, NSDP, DOM and PEI, with the coalition partners holding 65 of the 120 seats in parliament. The DUI–PDP coalition started protests throughout the Albanian-dominated parts of the country due to their exclusion from the coalition. In May 2007 the PDP accepted Gruevski's offer to join the government and in June the PDP became a coalition partner. See also History of the Republic of Macedonia References Category:Elections in North Macedonia Macedonia Parliamentary election Category:July 2006 in Europe Category:July 2006 elections