The Formation of the Party System in the Republic of Macedonia

Abstract

In the formation of the party system in Macedonia one may distinguish some phases. The first phase lasted from 1990 to 1992 and the characteristic of it was the re-formation of the political arena. The next phase lasted to 1998 and it could be described as the period of dominance of social democrats. VMRO boycotted the second poll to the Assembly in October 1994. The candidate of VMRO was defeated in the presidential election. The period of 1998–2001 was the time of sustainable multiparty pluralism with two major parties – central-left-wing SDSM and central-right-wing VMRO. The next phase started after finishing the Alban conflict (July 2001) when the new Alban party was formed – DUI. The period of 2004–2005 led to divisions of two major parties on Macedonian political arena. There were divisions in SDSM (The party of New Social Democrats emerged) and in VMRO (New National Party emerged – VMRO). Still, they did not weaken Macedonian parties during the election to the Assembly in September 2006. After the election in 2008 the regress in the competition between main parties – SDSM and VMRO was visible. The win-lose game started in the Macedonian political arena and international organisations alarmed on the dangers of functioning democratic institutions.