Name dispute to dominate Macedonian election campaigns
The name dispute will be the main topic which will dominate the presidential and early parliamentary elections in Macedonia.
The priority of political parties will be this topic, which for several decades has not been solved in spite of marathon negotiations between Skopje and Athens under the auspices of the United Nations.
In all recent elections, the topic has dominated electoral campaigns and it has served as a card in order to gain the sympathy of Macedonian voters.
Political analysts in Skopje say that the name dispute and the strong position of the Macedonian side on this issue will even dominate this campaign.
Given that Macedonian parties associate this issue with a strong feeling of nationalism because they do not want the name of their country and national identity to change. Meanwhile, Albanian parties demand a compromise between Athens and Skopje, in order to unblock the process of Euro Atlantic integration.
Parties and their positioning
VMRO-DPMNE led by prime minister Nikola Gruevski will focus on the name dispute issue.
This was declared by the senior member of this party, Zoran Stavrevski, who emphasised that the positioning remains the same as far as the name issue is concerned.
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(Photo: aljabak)
