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| - North Macedonia went to the polls on Wednesday in a tight parliamentary race whose winners will face a surging coronavirus outbreak and the start of talks to join the European Union. It is the first parliamentary election since the Balkan country added "North" to its name last year, ending a decades-old dispute with Greece. The accord ushered the country into NATO and opened the door to the EU. But critics are still bitter about conceding a part of their national identity to appease Greece, which claims exclusive rights to the name Macedonia for its own neighbouring region. The election pits an architect of the name deal, Social Democrats leader and former prime minister Zoran Zaev, against right-wing rivals in VMRO-DPMNE. With neither forecast to win an outright majority, complex coalition talks could follow the results, which are not expected until early Thursday. The coronavirus pandemic has added another layer of uncertainty as the authorities try to curb an infection spike without inflicting further damage on one of Europe's poorest economies. With nearly 400 deaths among a population of around two million, the land-locked country has the highest per capita fatality rate in the Western Balkans, according to official data. On Wednesday, masks were mandatory at polling stations, which opened at 0500 GMT and will close later than normal -- at 1900 GMT -- to allow for more distancing. Those infected with the virus were able to cast ballots earlier in the week, as were the elderly and infirm. The elections are being held to replace a caretaker government in power since Zaev stepped down six months ago following the EU's failure to open accession talks -- a promise Brussels had made in exchange for the name-change and other reforms. The bloc later gave the green light in March, although Skopje is still waiting for a start date. The interim government, meanwhile, has struggled to manage the coronavirus crisis. "There should be a government that will take responsibility. Whoever wins should work on stabilisation, to provide good conditions to young people," said Zoran Lazarevski, a retired 66-year-old voter in Skopje. But some felt that the poll, initially scheduled for April, should be postponed again for safety reasons. "We should have waited until this crisis had passed," said Skopje resident Ostoja Garac. Health fears were expected to dampen turnout, which was at 46 percent two hours before polls closed. After casting a ballot in his hometown Strumica, 45-year-old Zaev encouraged "citizens to go out to vote in large numbers" to affirm the country's EU path. While his nationalist rivals are formally pro-EU, they accuse Zaev of "treason" for the deal with Greece as well as another friendship treaty with Bulgaria. Hristijan Mickoski, the 42-year-old leader of VMRO-DPMNE, expressed confidence that a "big change will happen today". His party was in power for a decade until 2016 under the leadership of former strongman Nikola Gruevski, who has since fled to Hungary to avoid a corruption sentence. Analysts say VMRO-DPMNE's return could sour relations with neighbours and complicate the EU talks. It "will negatively affect not only the EU path, but also the overall foreign policy of the country," said Elena Stavrevska, a political scientist at the London School of Economics. Yet many voters are dissatisfied with the centre-left Social Democrats, amid a perception that "they have not delivered on some of the key promises, including justice reforms", she added. "We have had enough of promises, now it is time for progress," said 70-year-old Dimitar Sumkovski. "We keep saying we want to go to 'Europe'. We need 'Europe' to come here. To keep the youth here, to have jobs for everybody." The traditional kingmaker party, the Democratic Union for Integrity (DUI) which represents an ethnic Albanian minority, has put a twist on the poll this year by demanding their candidate be prime minister in exchange for any alliance. Their campaign slogan is: "Why not?" Both Zaev -- who has allied with another smaller ethnic Albanian party -- and Mickoski have dismissed the demand as "blackmail". But it is not clear if either main party could secure a majority without DUI's help. str-ssm/har
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