"It's the same story," said Boris Manchevski, the owner of a tire importing firm in Skopje. "All the candidates have similar platforms that are very pale. It's just old stories dressed up in different sweaters and shirts."
Such apathy was prevalent among voters as Macedonians cast their ballots yesterday for the successor to outgoing President Kiro Gligorov of the main opposition party -- the Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM).
The lack of electoral buzz, said political analysts, was because none of the six candidates -- three from the governing coalition and three from opposition -- were able to present pragmatic solutions to the country's problems.
Illustration: Mountain People
The ruling center-right government is made up of Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski's Macedonian Internal Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), presidential-hopeful Vasil Tupurkovski's Democratic Alternative (DA) and Albanian leader Arben Xhaferi's Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA).
"None of the parties can guarantee or offer anything, so all voters can do is to decide between a few really bad options," said Arsim Zekolli, a spokesman for the Islamic charity El Hilal.
The Balkan state currently faces a string of problems, including a cash-strapped pension system and an ailing economy -- on top of the country's most pressing issue of ethnic division.
With none of the candidates expected to win a majority as required under the Macedonian Constitution, the top two voter-getters would have to compete in a second round on Nov. 14.
The issue of Albanian minority rights, said political analysts, will dominate the debate in the second round as Albanian votes would be the decisive factor in determining who will be the next president.
Neither of the two Albanians in the race -- Muharem Nedzipi of the governing DPA and Muhamed Halili of the opposition Party for Democratic Prosperity (PDP) -- have a realistic chance of making it to the second round.
"The two Albanian candidates are competing against each other, rather than the field, to see who is the top vote-getter in the community," said a Western diplomat in Skopje. "There isn't much difference between what they are saying."
Both candidates are supporting Kosovo independence and calling for a constitutional change that would define ethnic Albanians as part of the "constituent people of Macedonia" instead of a "minority."
Such efforts are viewed by Macedonians as a threat to division, because Albanians are heavily represented in western parts of the country bordering Kosovo and Albania.
According to a 1994 census, Albanians account for an estimated 23 percent of the population of Macedonia, which is about two million.
Opposition candidates Tito Petkovski of the SDSM and Stojan Andov of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are critics of Kosovo independence and warned that demands for constitutional change would split Macedonia into a two-nation state.
"Andov has played the nationalistic card a lot in the game, and Petkovski's rhetoric has become increasingly more nationalistic in the campaign," said Stefan Krause, a political analyst with the International Crisis Group. "The Albanians will definitely not vote for either of them if they get into the second round, that's pretty certain."
Political analysts said the two candidates most likely to enter the second round are Boris Trajkovski of VMRO-DPMNE and Petkovski.
"Both candidates have the advantage of a large party machinery that can churn out the voters," said Ljubomir Frckovski, a former foreign and interior minister.
Although the opposition is running on the public's anti-government mood, political observers said failures of the previous socialist government are still fresh in the public mind.
"On one hand, people are highly skeptical that the socialists have changed in one year, but on the other hand, if you elect Trajkovski, you practically have a one party-dominated political system," Zekolli said. "More or less this is an election with no or limited options."
The ex-communist SDSM were voted out of power in the parliamentary elections last year after failing to speed up political and economic reforms.
In this context, "Petkovski is perceived by many as a man of the past, lacking vision and charisma," said Krause.
Younger Macedonians dislike his first name Tito, a reminder of the former Yugoslav communist dictator Josip Broz Tito.
His main rival, Trajkovski, is the current deputy foreign minister who rose to public attention for defending Macedonia in face of international criticism for the way it handled the refugee crisis.
However, Trajkovski's limited experience in running a campaign has cost him some of his earlier popularity.
"He has the advantage of leveraging on the party's resources, but he is losing momentum to some extent because of his lackluster campaign," said a Western diplomat.
Then, there is the question of Trajkovski's "Al Gore" personality.
"He is a bit goofier than [US Vice President] Al Gore, but he's got that same exciting nature that Gore projects," the Western diplomat said.
But when the Albanians go to the polls on Nov. 14, it is likely that Trajkovski will be their choice.
DPA leader Xhaferi is almost certain to throw his support behind Trajkovski, according to political analysts.
"It is easier for Xhaferi to strike a deal with VMRO-DPMNE since they are coalition partners," Krause said.
However, the caveat emptor lies in how openly Trajkovski can strike a deal with the DPA without alienating the ethnic-Macedonian electorate.
Other analysts said Tupurkovski, the cosmopolitan deal-maker and director of the powerful Agency for Reconstruction and Development, could be a dark horse and make it into the second round.
Despite being part of the government, Tupurkovski is running as if he were in the opposition.
He has accused VMRO-DPMNE of obstructing his efforts to bring in foreign investments and is positioning himself as the "man of the people."
Western diplomats said Tupurkovski is the most qualified candidate to lead Macedonia internationally.
"He has a worldview that is almost second nature to him; he doesn't even have to think about how to deal with international issues," said one diplomat. "Which is more than what you can say from some of the government officials here. It would be very interesting if Tupurkovski is to compete with Trajkovski in the second round because both are acceptable to the Albanians. It's a wild card on which way the Albanians will vote."
Tupurkovski is also the architect of controversial ties to Taiwan, a move he justified as the way to revive Macedonia's economy.
But his popularity has declined considerably over the past months as only a small portion of his pledge of US$1 billion in foreign investments have flowed into Macedonia.
Diplomatic ties as well as economic aid from Taiwan have been one of the planks in the presidential race.
Continuing the legacy of Gligorov, Petkovski has already made it clear that he will not receive the credentials of the Taiwan ambassador in Macedonia Peter Cheng (
"If I become president, I will set forward a reconciliation process with China," Petkovski said in an interview with Reuters.
In what seems to be a move to placate the electorate, Trajkovski justified his government's decision as a "move to help the economy" but admitted that "the effects were not that positive."
"I will try my utmost to bring us closer to China but sudden changes in foreign policy are not easy," he said.
A Taiwan diplomat familiar with Macedonian politics dismissed Trajkovski's comment as a way to win votes.
"He is probably paying lip service to win over those voters who do not agree with the recognition of Taiwan. It's not a decision that he can reverse anyway," he said.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
The China Coast Guard has seized control of a disputed reef near a major Philippine military outpost in the South China Sea, Beijing’s state media said, adding to longstanding territorial tensions with Manila. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea and has waved away competing assertions from other countries as well as an international ruling that its position has no legal basis. China and the Philippines have engaged in months of confrontations in the contested waters, and Manila is taking part in sweeping joint military drills with the US which Beijing has slammed as destabilizing. The Chinese coast guard
RSS