Polls open in Macedonia snap election

SKOPJE: Polling stations opened in Macedonia Sunday for early elections many hope will speed up the pace of reforms needed to put Skopje back on track to European Union and NATO entry, stalled by a name row with Greece.

Some 1.8 million voters are eligible to cast their ballots from 0500 GMT till 1700 GMT in more than 2,000 polling stations to elect deputies for the 123-seat parliament with a four-year mandate.

Voting will be monitored by some 3,500 local and 330 international observers.

The main contenders are two coalitions led by veteran political forces: the ruling rightist 24-party grouping led by the VMRO-DPMNE of incumbent Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and the leftist-led SDSM of Branko Crvenkovski.

The latest surveys gave the VMRO-DPMNE the lead, but many believe it would fall short of winning an outright majority.

Although Skopje officially gained EU candidate status in 2005, hopes of joining the union have been blocked by the 19 year long name dispute with Greece.

The first preliminary results are expected on Monday.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011