The leading party among ethnic Albanians in
Macedonia threatened Sunday not to recognize the election result in places
where the polls were marred by violence and intimidation, dpa reported.
"The election process fell short of all standards ... and we will not
recognize the results," the chief of the Democratic Union for Integration
(DUI), Ali Ahmeti, told a press conference in Tetovo, the hub of the ethnic
Albanian minority in western Macedonia.
Ahmeti said he was referring to seven municipalities where the election
effectively collapsed owing to gunfights, ballot-box stuffing and other grave
violations.
One Albanian was killed by police in an Albanian village on the outskirts of Skopje after he pulled out a handgun. Another person was critically wounded and eight
others injured in the subsequent firefight.
The DUI accused the rival Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) of being the
orchestrators of the violence.
The DUI was clearly ahead of the DPA, a junior partner in the outgoing ruling
coalition, in pre-elections surveys.
"Macedonia's state institutions failed today by serving violence and not
he citizens of Macedonia," Ahmeti said, accusing the DPA of
"exercising terror" and "destroying the election process."
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