Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

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100 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
Elections 2002 The Albanians drew a new political map Daut Dauti Was it victory for "Together for Macedonia" (Social Democratic Alliance) and the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), or defeat for VMRO-DPMNE, the Liberals (LP) and the Democratic Party of the Albanians (DPA)? Whatever we say it was, the result was more or less anticipated, especially as far as the Macedonian block of parties are concerned. The considerable triumph of DUI over the other Albanian parties, however , was far beyond expectations. Amongst all these discrepancies, the thing that stands out is the political downfall of the first, and so far the biggest, Albanian party - the Party for Democratic Prosperity (PDP) as well as that of the other Macedonian parties that did not succeed in securing seats in Parliament. The only party to succeed in doing so was the Socialist Party, and the everlasting Ljubisav Ivanov - Dzingo. Of course, the 60 members of parliament of the coalition headed by SDSM were no surprise if we take into consideration the unfavorable atmosphere and the tremendous public discontent due to the 4-year-long rule of VMRO- DPMNE and DPA. This coalition is being held accountable for everything: beginning with the dissipation of public money, the selling of companies for enormous commissions, organized crime, bribery and corruption, and ending with the war. Without the slightest intent to defend this coalition and its (negative) activities, the blame for all that has been happening can be put on the previous Governments as well: Crvenkovski invented the "Octopus," the causes for the war date from when he was governing Having to choose between PDP and DPA, the Albanians decided to choose DUI because they were the only ones to take part in the elections as a result of their own merits, meaning the changes that resulted from the activities of the NLA, whose people joined DUI (he did nothing about Albanian requests). These as well as other negative phenomena lost him the elections in 1998. Maybe the particulars lie exactly in that relationship between the guilt of the two biggest political parties in the Macedonian political block and the variable mood of the electorate towards them. However, since strong feelings were created towards the governing of both parties, there was no room left for finding something "in-between," i.e., for finding the so-called "third path" or "third alternative". The party that has inserted the "alternative" in its program and in its name, Cile's DA (Democratic Alternative of Vasil Tupurkovski), has ruined its chances and the chances of every other third-party candidate, by failing to realize the project with the "billion." Neither the Democratic Alliance of the always ambitious but politically anemic Pavle Trajanov , nor Boris Stojmenov's VMRO (hoping for 10 parliamentary seats) succeeded in passing the magic doorstep. Oliver Romevski (the spokesperson of VMRO-Macedonian), notes something interesting: that party was the only one to affect the defeat of VMRO-DPMNE, since some of the members of Georgievski's party allegedly had voted for Stojmenov. But still there is very little respect for such ambitious parties. Looking for the key reason for such a lack of respect, it was probably the psychological disappointment with Vasil Tupurkovski's party. He had offered money, the people believed him and they gave their support to the coalition "For Changes" in great numbers. However, the Taiwan adventure made people change their minds. Nevertheless, covert political offers can hardly succeed with people who have already been deceived once. Another significant fact should be mentioned here: the voters generally did not support the parties which asked for revision of the Ohrid Agreement. Regarding the Albanian political block, having to choose between the two most powerful parties so far (PDP and DPA) , the voters favored DUI, i.e. the "demobilized" Ali Ahmeti. By doing so, the Albanians have found their "third path." Arben Xhaferi, the leader of the "honestly defeat- 101 A new beginning, November 2002
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Pluralism and us Polyparty-ism Ten
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The custom officer asks the boy to
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Yugoslav state, along with its nati
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tunate region of the western Balkan
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The phenomen of Macedonia The impos
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eforms. Otherwise, the reforms will
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Pluralism and Albanians From enthus
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Pluralism and the economy The Maced
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The time has come to do something M
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A tragic feeling about balkan borde
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a posthumous medal. They wrote abou
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closely to see how much negative en
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The big and small in defense of „
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Hostages kept by criminals What doe
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I remember another thought which is
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the thought of having a second or t
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fetishism can lead us to a false im
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the border, cadre formation and arm
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Solve your own problems A view from
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all crying: neighbours, relatives,
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are waiting for someone else to pre
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Respect the differences and you wil
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