The Inauguration of the New President
PRESIDENT MADE TO MEASURE OF THE CITIZENS
Second President of the independent Macedonia, Boris Trajkovski, has assumed his duty. During his inauguration in Parliament, parliamentarians - members of the largest opposition party - SDSM, were not present since this party made it known that it does not recognise the new President and will not communicate with him. At the same time, foreign diplomats (and their bosses) have expressed their support of Trajkovski.
AIM Skopje, December 17, 1999
Second (pluralistic and multi-party) President of the Republic of Macedonia, Boris Trajkovski, elected at (again second) direct elections, was inaugurated in the Macedonian Parliament. It was a formal ending of an agonising electoral race in which there were as many as three (repeated)votings, which could have gone on for several more weeks, at least as far as the opposition and its objections were concerned.
The opposition was first relieved, since after a year it, more or less, managed to confirm its victory at last year's elections. But, it seems that relived were also foreign diplomats - as well as their bosses - who during the entire electoral process, with certain nervousness, insisted on the soonest possible conclusion of the "game of electing the president".
In accordance with his perception of politics, the new Macedonian President delivered his inaugural address in Parliament. Trajkovski, being a protestant by religion (which is untypical for Macedonia - the majority of Macedonians are Orthodox, and Albanians Moslems) stuck to his (electoral) slogan about trust in and love for everyone. In his address, Trajkovski called to cooperation everyone, including the absent parliamentarians from the Social-Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM), who in protest did not attend the official swearing in of the new Macedonian President.
The second pluralistic President of Macedonia took advantage of the opportunity to refute all accusations made against him, but also against his party (VMRO-DPMNE) and the ruling coalition: "I will show and prove that no one from the present state leadership had any intention to divide, sell, federalise or in any other way re-shape our state". Majority of local politicians expressed the opinion that it was good that Macedonia finally got its President and that everything that was happening during presidential elections should be forgotten. Especially that which happened in the second electoral round at polling places in Western Macedonia where Albanians are majority population. There were examples of ballot-box stuffing, people voting for someone else, etc.
That is why the State Electoral Commission and the Supreme Court of Macedonia brought a decision on repeated voting at some 230 polling places with 160 thousand voters. According to SDSM, this repeated voting was organised according to the same scenario, which why this party first recalled its representatives in electoral boards, and then its presidential candidate, in protest, withdrew his objections submitted to the State Electoral Commission and, finally, stated that it would not recognise the new President and to cooperate with him.
After the second election round, foreign observers first wanted to "cover up" all evident irregularities. The OSCE Monitoring Mission stated that the elections were democratic and fair, but that some irregularities were observed. Relying on this finding, many foreign statesmen, starting from James Rubin, spokesman for the State Department, hastened to congratulate Trajkovski. As tensions heightened in the expectation of the Supreme Court's decision on the (ir)regularities in the second round, foreign diplomats grew nervous. Most of them advised the opposition SDSM to accept the results of the second round. There were also those who had negative opinion of the second round too.
Thus, estimating the way voting in the second round of presidential elections was conducted, the EU Permanent Representative to Macedonia, Hose Manuel Pinto de Teseira, stated that this was the best illustration why Macedonia was on the list of West Balkan instead south-east European countries. After his visit to Macedonia, which coincided with presidential elections, Hans Urlich Close, President of the Foreign Policy Committee of German Bundestag, stated that "much depends on the way in which the new President will show and prove that he is the President of all citizens", and as regard the elections added that it would take additional 30 years for Macedonia to join EU!
However, foreign diplomats in Skopje soon coordinated their stands and announced that the actual situation should be accepted and everything that happened at the elections forgotten. Just like the previous President Kiro Gligorov said: "We have a new President and that is what's important". After President Trajkovski's inaugural address, Teseira took back some of his initial comments of his superiors from Brussels: "I was truly impressed by his speech and expect further strengthening of relations between the Republic of Macedonia and EU in the next millennium". Responding to a direct question on possible rigging in the second round and during repeated voting, the American Ambassador to Macedonia, Mike Inick, said: "The elections are but one indicator of democracy".
"The democracy is tested under crisis, and Macedonia has passed that test long ago". Werner Burhardt, German Ambassador, said of Trajkovski: "I am sure that Macedonia will get closer to European structures". The message of the American President, Bill Clinton, delivered to Trajkovski after his inauguration was intoned in a similar way.
It is obvious that for a long time to come the opposition will keep reminding everyone of the (ir)regularities of presidential elections in order to corroborate its claims that democratic processes were regressing, the state disintegrating, etc. because of the moves the ruling coalition was making in order to remain in power. But, the SDSM too will have to resign itself to its fate although it claims that its members and sympathisers (over 500 thousand people have voted for its presidential candidate Petkovski, which is one third of the electorate and one fourth of the total population of Macedonia) do not recognise Trajkovski as their President. On the other hand, Boris Trajkovski can rightfully claim that he is the first Macedonian President elected with Albanian votes. Although there will always be doubts about possible manipulations with the Albanian votes, it is a fact that with his vocabulary and rhetoric, insistence on the Macedonian populistic nationalism, the SDSM candidate Tito Petkovski, practically drove away the Albanian voters and forced many Albanians to give their vote to Trajkovski.
That, as well as Trajkovski's constant invoking of the civil concept of state, his stronger position, as well as position of the Government's coalition as the factor of maintaining good inter-ethnic relations in Macedonia. The West had highly positive opinion of all this. The only thing left for Boris Trajkovski to do is to show and prove in his five-year term of office that he is worthy of the function to which he was elected. In any case, Trajkovski is the first Macedonian President who will discharge his function in accordance with Constitutional competences.
His predecessor Kiro Gligorov, particularly in his first term, had much broader influence on political processes in Macedonia, often uniting all powers in his personality. Therefore, many things regarding Trajkovski will depend on the behaviour of other segments - the Government with which he shares executive powers, and parliament as the legislative authority. In this regard Trajkovski is somehow linked with the coalition crisis in Government. After leaving Government's session in protest, representatives of the Democratic Alternative (DA) sent their platform on future coalition to VMRO-DPMNE who rejected it. On the one hand, Trajkovski's election has strengthened the links between VMRO-DPMNE and the Democratic Party of Albanians, but also eased tension between VMRO-DPMNE and DA. Now, the DA Ministers attend Government sessions as if they have abandoned their ultimative terms and conditions, while Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski has postponed for the next year and even millennium, denouement and announced cabinet reshuffling.
Although they claim to have done it under pressure from outside, if it results in the coalition's survival, this "cooling down of tempers" can give the Government enough space to finally start implementing what it had promised before the elections. Trajkovski, as its partner, can do much in this regard.
AIM Skopje
ISO RUSI
</body>