Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

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the objective reality. In addition, there
is the penalty by the Albanian electorate
for the corrupt establishment of
DPA. There is an ancient democratic
saying that the British adore: Power
corrupts, absolute power corrupts
absolutely!
The second important electoral
outcome is the fiasco of the so-called
third option, that is the one that does
not belong to either of the two strong
political blocks. Many are convinced
that for Macedonia in the current constellation
a proportional model with six
electoral units is the most suitable one,
although it is exceptionally unfavorable
to the smaller parties. In slightly
different security and economic constellations,
possibly in one or two mandates
from now, the electoral model
should undergo changes, where it will
be approved, or rather assured, that
parliamentary participation will be provided
for smaller bodies as well. Not
only as a democratic nicety but as an
essential quality. In this regard, Darko
Markovich has given the most appropriate
definition: "The third way is not
constructed with second-rate people!"
These political factions demonstrated
an envious level of omnipotent destruction,
unfavorable for them too. Many
of these third-way political players,
incapable of making objective judgments
about their power, did not succeed.
They did not gain a single seat in
the Parliament, with the exception of
Dzingo of course, who remains as a
one-man-show. Apart from the inconveniences
in the electoral system, "the
third way" pointed out a leadership crisis,
as an inability to seriously assess
the strength of each member and that of
the whole. Some of these players attest
that 225,000 votes would be sufficient
to gain 12 seats in the Parliament.
The centrist political analysts, have
assessed the downfall of smaller parties
as a critical moment for society and
democracy as well! In all likelihood
that is true, however, it is also true that
the fiasco is a consequence of the great
ambitions of small-party leaders. They
requested room in the community, not
according to the interests and the needs
of the citizens, but according to personal
interests and the interests of leading
groups. Those parties lacked a substantial
social base. If this is viewed in the
context of internal policy, social, security
and other constellations, then in the
context of neighboring and external
state positions, many believe that the
results from the elections truly reflect
the needs of Macedonia. Finally, with
our modest pluralistic experience, it is
not at all easy to establish, stabilize and
develop a third political force between
the two mastodonic political blocks of
SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE. For the
time being, this is due to the fact that
Macedonia is not a modern stratified
country. The middle class is not yet
established in sufficient quantities nor
with definitive qualities. Macedonia is
a poor state, with a large number of
unemployed people, low wages, modest
resources, semi-established institutions,
with a vulnerable existence, contingent
upon politics and state organs.
All of that creates political instability
and impatience amongst people. They
would like to become members of the
winning party as soon as possible, that
is, immediately after casting their vote.
They take aim at the party promising
victory by means of which they would
find solutions to their existential problems.
Regarding the "Thirds" the fact
that there will be another election is
encouraging.
As far as the electoral results are
considered in the Albanian party camp,
they were more or less foreseeable.
These were definitely DUI's and Ali
Ahmeti's elections. The institutionalized
NLA, now DUI, used primarily
last year's crisis for political transformation,
and secondly the internal structure
of NLA as a good ground for party
infrastructure. Now, we are to see
whether Ahmeti's star as a human
rights fighter will shine on the political
cloud, where traffic is denser. With
only political promotion, he is no
longer protected as a pan-Albanian
icon, so instead of a Kalashnikov, he
will have to face competition by political
means. Of course the large number
of votes for DUI is particularly due to
Ahmeti's charisma and the conflict that
he and his associates launched high in
the Macedonian political sky. A rather
closed Albanian society in Macedonia
contributed to that end as well, which is
more responsive to the nationalistic
nerve than to other political initiatives.
However, that's reality and it should be
respected, although this complex of
issues does not reflect the internal and
modern political stratification in its
entirety. There are no doubts that the
crisis, that was at least complementary
with the failing ruling parties, will take
the development of democracy several
cycles back. However, from a political
point of view the state now needs to
make 7-mile-high steps in order to surmount
the vacuum.
Because of conformity and their
comfortable armchairs of power, DPA
was punished by the voters. The selfsame
party was one of the key generators
of the crisis, as it became a part of
the ethnically structured power, which
still had covert personal interests.
Finally, these were not PDP's elections
and the party was very well aware of
that fact. They payed the tax of participating
in first this and then that government.
PDP remains as a party for some
future election cycle, if it overcomes
the forthcoming problems safely.
In the next few days, the new executive
authority will be established. Its
responsibilities should sober up the
holders of the new mandate. Frenzy
has to be replaced by sobriety. "We
have to work," Crvenkovski used to
say in the pre-election campaign. He's
got the chance. He should make use of
everyone's enthusiasm that Macedonia
can be a normal state. Unfortunately,
the new government will not have a
hundred days of amnesty from public
criticism. What should be done is to
establish the pillars of the legal state. It
may sound rough but what is more
important than democracy is the functioning
of law and the legal system in
Macedonia. Without them, there is no
democracy. The second thing is to
show that crime and corruption-until
now and from now on--do not pay.
This is the key homework of the
new government, if it's not properly
dealt with in the very beginning, we
can not expect to set new grounds for a
new and different Macedonia.
(The author is a journalist at
Utrinski Vesnik)
A new beginning, November 2002