Elections in the Republic of Macedonia

Despite the victory of the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, in the election re-run on Sunday in the village of Tearce in Macedonia, the number of seats that each bloc won in the December 11 elections remains the same. The ruling VMRO DPMNE party won 51 and the SDSM 49 in the 120-seat parliament.

The opposition won 245 votes in Tearce and the ruling party won just 150.

The ruling party in Macedonia VMRO-DPMNE of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is the final winner in the snap parliamentary elections held on December 11 in the country, showed the results published on the website of the Macedonian Election Commission and cited by local media.

The rerun in the ethnically mixed village of Tearce, in the north west of the country, could theoretically alter the number of seats won in parliament by the two main parties on December 11 from 51-49 in favour of the ruling VMRO DPMNE party to 50-50 with the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM.

The junior ruling party in the last government, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, which won 10 of the 120 seats in parliament in the December 11 polls, has said it will wait for the final official election results before inviting all the main ethnic Albanian parties to discuss a common platform.

Macedonia's Administrative Court on Tuesday accepted one electoral complaint filed by the opposition Social Democratic Union, SDSM as a result of which the December 11 general election will be re-run in a single polling station, number 2011, in the north western municipality of Tearce.

A Macedonian court has granted two requests, one from each of the biggest parties, to hold a repeat election in two stations, potentially reshaping the result.

The Administrative Court of Macedonia has ruled in favour of two complaints, by conservative VMRO-DPMNE and socialist SDSM party, setting a new vote on December 25, according to state-run MIA news agency.

Former policeman Johan Tarculovski has entered parliament after being elected as MP in the country's second electoral unit that covers parts of Macedonia's north-east but also parts of capital Skopje.

VMRO DPMNE leader and former prime minister Nikola Gruevski on Saturday savaged the work of Macedonia's election commission, the DIK, after it accepted a complaint about the recent general election result filed by an opposition party.

Macedonia's tight election result has shifted attention to ethnic Albanian parties, which together won 20 MPs and are seen as possibly holding the key to the formation of a new government in Macedonia.

According to the latest results, the ruling VMRO DPMNE party won 51 of the 120 seats in parliament and the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, won 49.

Far from resolving the long-standing political crisis in Macedonia, Sunday's tight election outcome hints at an even tenser situation that could easily spill over into violent incidents, observers warn.