THE BEGINNING OF STREET DEMOCRACY?!

(This text is about the boycott of the elections in Macedonia by two most powerful parties, the VMRO-DPMNE and the DP, about their grudges against the present authorities and even the international observers.)

AIM, Skoplje, Oct. 24, 1994

Summary::

The VMRO-DPMNE (The Internal Revolutionary Organization - the Democratic Party of National Unity) and the DP (Democratic Party) have finally put an end to the threats that they would not participate in the elections; they officially publicised today that they will not participate in the second round of the elections. From the point of view of the law, they cannot withdraw their candidates now, so that their boycott will not have the intended effect. The leaders of these two parties, Ljupco Georgievski and Petar Gosev, announced protest rallies in all the cities of Macedonia, and this is the cause of concern among the citizens that this might mark the beginning of street democracy in Macedonia. These two parties, now strengthened by MAAK, complain that the authorities are falsifying the elections, although international observers say that, once certain technical defficiencies are disregarded, the elections were fair and democratic. The Albanian parties are running in the second round of the elections with their candidates, but with little chance to repeat the success from the first multiparty elections.

The question most frequently posed by the citizens in Macedonia nowadays is not - who will win the elections, but - is this the beginning of street democracy in Macedonia? The winners are more or less known - the Alliance for Macedonia, at least judging by the results of the first election round, is the undoubtful favourite. But, what gives the citizens of this small state reason for concern that here too, the "season of rallying" is likely to begin, and of democracy rolling down city streets, is the final decision of three opposition parties - the VMRO-DPMNE, the DP and MAAK, to boycott the elections and withdraw their deputy candidates. They have, in fact, announced a series of rallies in all the cities of the country in order to explain to the citizens that pure "neo-fascist dictatorship" is in power, as an independent candidate, Todor Petrov, who had joined these parties, said at a press conference. For October 30, when the citizens are expected to vote at the second round of the election, they have called their sympathizers to "vote for democracy" in city squares, in order to express their revolt.

Does this mean that the opposition is surprised by the unexpected defeat or were the elections really irregular? There are more arguments speaking in favour of the opinion that their decision is the result of their inability to take the defeat with dignity, than in favour of "falsification", as the leaders of this party claim. To be more precise, these three parties, especially the VMRO-DPMNE and the DP, paid dearly for their selfishness and inability to form any sort of a coalition in order to oppose, with better success, the Alliance for Macedonia which consists of three parties (the Social Democratic Alliance, the Liberal Party and the Socialist Party). From the beginning it was clear that there is no political force which could successfully compete with the coalition called the Alliance for Macedonia which had the most powerful trump card - the present President, Kiro Gligorov. Almost everyone who knows anything about the circumstances in Macedonia expected the fiasco of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE and the DP. It seems that only the leaders of these two parties, Ljupco Georgievski and Petar Gosev, did not, and they united now that it is all over. They united just for the sake of implementing "street democracy". They, therefore, proved that what disturbs them most is that they are unfoundedly accusing the people from the Alliance for Macedonia and the current authorities - for having falsified the elections. And they do claim that "ballot boxes were stuffed", that there were irregularities in the registers of voters, that election districts were changed in the places where these two parties have sympathisers, etc. Noone denies that there were certain weaknesses in these elections, not even the state agencies which were responsible for the preparation and organization of the elections. But, they all also agree that the omissions were not of such a nature to cause annulment of the elections. Representatives of international organizations and their observers share the opinion. They stress that technical defficiencies must be corrected in the second round of the elections. In order to do that, special teams were engaged, and a task force was formed for up-dating the registers of voters.

From the legal aspect, these two parties cannot withdraw their candidates from the ballots, so their names will be on the lists on October 30. The boycott will take the form of parallel elections in all the cities of Macedonia organized by these parties. At first sight, this may seem bening, but it may have severe results for the interior stability of the country for the simple reason that this will offer the opposition a possibility to give a "fabricated" figure of their "sympathizers", and because this means that a "parallel parliament" will be formed in Macedonia. According to the present official data, a little above 10 per cent of the total number of voters actually voted for the opposition. It is expected that after the "parallel elections" in Macedonian cities and towns, this percentage would be much larger because it would be fabriacted. This will be an argument that the opposition parties will use to manipulate with the other citizens and deny the "legitimity" of parliamentary elects. Another assumption lies on the opposite end of this one - that this is the final end of the VMRO-DPMNE and Gosev's Democratic Party. Such assumptions are founded on the past experience that non-parliamentary parties in Macedonia so far had no influence. By their decision to boycott the elections, the VMRO-DPMNE and the DP have condemned themselves to self-destruction. They can survive only if they have some new, "efficient" strategy. According to everything, they have chosen "street democracy" as the alternative. It will find fertile ground in Macedonia for a simple reason that it is expecting negotiations with Greece and that its relations with the neighbour to the North have not been clarified. And the opposition can skilfully use all the "battles" about the name and state borders to increase the number of participants in rallies.

Primarily, therefore, one may conclude that the second multi-party elections in Macedonia can cause more headache not only of those who will come to power, but also of those who hoped that Macedonia has surmounted the "children's disease" of democracy. But this may also mean the end of Macedonian nationalistic parties in Macedonia whose only "argument" so far was the phobia of all non-Macedonians in this state. Should the latter be the result of all the present turbulence taking place in Macedonia, then this state can count on a better future. This does not mean that the national narrow-mindedness in other national collectivities is not dangerous. But, in view of the national composition of Macedonia, it can be destabilized primarily by the Macedonian and the Albanian nationalism. And Albanian parties which had annonced boycott of the elections, are entering the second round disunited and divided, reducing the chances to have even the 23 deputies they had so far in the republican Parliament. All forecasts say that the number of Albanian deputies will not exceed twenty. When the fact that they come from various parties is added to this, they are no serious opposition for the Alliance for Macedonia. This means that if this Alliance gets the majority, it will not be faced with blackmailing by the only Albanian parliamentary group from the PDP as until now. Should it win the absolute majority, the Alliance for Macedonia (and there are those who believe that it will be represented in the Parliament by more than eighty deputies) will have the possibility to rule Macedonia as it pleases. In the meanwhile, some presume that after the elections, partners in this Alliance will split. But, this is all mere speculations which are not founded on reliable arguments.

IBRAHIM MEHMETI