The speaker of Macedonia's parliament today cancelled a vote to dissolve the chamber, indefinitely postponing early elections required by a peace accord with ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
Most of the 116 MPs had in any case said they would vote against holding the general election on January 27th, the date written into the August agreement, because of serious delays in re-establishing state authority over rebel-inhabited territory.
Speaker Mr Stojan Andov abruptly ended the session in fury over accusations by the main opposition SDSM party, which backed an early vote as soon as possible to exploit its lead in polls, that he had impeded the peace process in the past.
However, SDSM deputies had already agreed with ruling nationalists that a January vote was unworkable because law and order had not been restored in the 10 per cent of north Macedonia controlled by former rebels.
Steps to return police to the rebel areas were held up by parliament's slowness to ratify civil rights reforms required in exchange for the rebel movement's dissolution in September. Parliament finally ratified the package on November 16th.
Reuters