Skopje - A rerun of parliamentary elections in parts of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia led to a shift in power between the country's rival ethnic Albanian parties, the two political factions said Monday. The Democratic Party of Albanians in Macedonia (DPA) was expected to win 13 seats in Macedonia's 120-seat parliament while the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) was expected to take 18 seats, the parties said.
Initial results by the country's election commission, albeit incomplete, indicated similar trends.
Macedonia's general election on June 1 had to be aborted in about 190 election districts after violent clashes that killed one person. DPA then had won 13 seats and DUI 12.
The ruling conservatives under Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski won an absolute majority but said they wanted to enter into a coalition with one of the ethnic Albanian parties.
About 25 per cent of Macedonia's 2.1 million inhabitants are ethnic Albanians. The large majority are Slav Macedonians.
The ethnic groups came close to civil war during violent clashes in 2001, which EU mediation ended.
