Chamber:
	Sobranie
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	15 September 2002
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all the seats in Parliament on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.
Background and outcome of elections:
	Some 73,47 per cent of 1.7 million eligible voters went to the polls in the 15 September 2002 elections. More than 3,300 candidates from 30 parties and eight coalitions competed in the fourth general election since independence in 1991 and the first since the Ohrid Framework agreement, which was signed in August 2001 and ended seven months of violence between ethnic Albanian rebels and government forces. The electoral campaign, that started on 14 August 2002, was much calmer than analysts had feared, even though there was some violence in certain parts of the country. During the campaign, President Trajkovski called upon the political parties to offer platforms proposing concrete, realistic, and creative solutions to existing problems, and reminded them to put forward concrete measures regarding the fight against organized crime and corruption. A special voter education programme was adopted by the State Election Commission to inform citizens about their right to vote and the voting procedure for the parliamentary elections, as the parliamentary elections were conducted for the first time under a proportional representation system. A record 900 OSCE monitors were present to observe the elections. International observers monitoring the elections said they had passed off relatively peacefully and the State Election Commission Chairwoman Mirjana Lazarova-Trajkovska declared that the elections had been fair and democratic. Final results showed that the opposition coalition Together for Macedonia, formed by the Social Democratic Union (SDSM), the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the Democratic League of Bosniaks, the United Party of Roma, the Democratic Alliance of Vlachs and several other minor parties had won 60 of the 120 seats at stake. The outgoing nationalist coalition of Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Movement (VMRO-DPMNE) and the Liberal Party would not be able to form the new government of the Republic of Macedonia as it obtained 33 seats. The Democratic Union for Integration (DUI, BDI in Albanian) of Mr Ali Ahmeti, the former leader of the ethnic Albanian rebel group - the National Liberation Army (ONA, UCK in Albanian), won 16 seats in the new Parliament. Mr Ahmeti was the clear winner of the ethnic Albanian vote. The other parties which obtained representation in the new Parliament are the Democratic Party of Albanians (7 seats), the Party for Democratic Prosperity (2 seats), the National Democratic Party (1 seat), and the Socialist Party of Macedonia (1 seat). The new Parliament held its first sitting on 3 October 2002 and elected Mr Nikola Popovski of the Social Democratic Union (SDSM) as its new Speaker. On 1 November 2002, the Parliament voted in the new government with Mr Branko Crvenkovski as Prime Minister.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (15 September 2002): Elections results
Number of registered electors	1 664 296
Voters	1 222 711 (73.47 %)

Round no 1: Distribution of votes
Political Group	%
Together for Macedonia	40.50
VMRO-DMPNE - LP	24.40
Democratic Union for Integration (DUI)	11.90
Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA)	5.20
Party of Democratic Prosperity (PDP)	2.30
National Democratic Party (NDP)	2.10
Socialist Party (SPM)	2.10

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total
Together for Macedonia	60
VMRO-DMPNE - LP	33
Democratic Union for Integration (DUI)	16
Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA)	7
Party of Democratic Prosperity (PDP)	2
National Democratic Party (NDP)	1
Socialist Party (SPM)	1

Comments:
	VMRO-DMPNE - LP : Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity - Liberal Party of Macedonia

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	99
Women:	21
Percent of women:	17.50 %