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| - North Macedonia's Social Democrats were locked in a tight battle for first place with nationalist rivals, preliminary results of Wednesday's elections showed, highlighting deep fault lines in the Balkan state. The vote was the first parliamentary election since the 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 future EU membership. But critics are still bitter about conceding a part of their identity to appease Greece, which claims exclusive rights to the name Macedonia for its own neighbouring region. Social Democrats leader Zoran Zaev is trying to renew his premiership but faces a stiff challenge from right-wing rivals in VMRO-DPMNE, who blasted the name deal as "treason". With neither forecast to win an outright majority, the first-place finisher will face complex coalition talks with ethnic Albanian minority parties to try and form a government. With some 75 percent of the votes counted, the Social Democrats and VMRO-DPMNE were in a virtual tie, each with around 36 percent of the vote, according to the state electoral commission. Politicians from both parties claimed they were in line for a victory. The elections were 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 date to start formal negotiations with Brussels. 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. Some felt that the poll, initially scheduled for April, should be postponed again for safety reasons as a second surge of the coronavirus rears its head. 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 closed later than normal -- at 1900 GMT -- to allow for more social distancing. Those infected with the virus were able to cast ballots earlier in the week, as were the elderly and infirm. "We should have waited until this crisis had passed," said Skopje resident Ostoja Garac. 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. Hristijan Mickoski, the 42-year-old leader of VMRO-DPMNE, expressed confidence that a "big change will happen today". His conservative 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 a return to power for VMRO-DPMNE 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. Low wages, high unemployment and widespread corruption have been gnawing away at public faith in politics for years. "We have had enough of promises, now it is time for progress," said 70-year-old Dimitar Sumkovski. Two main ethnic Albanian camps are likely to be crucial for the inevitable coalition talks. Poised for a key role was the Democratic Union for Integrity (DUI) with around 10 percent of the votes counted, followed by the rival Alliance for Albanians with around 8 percent. DUI, the traditional kingmaker, has put a twist on the poll this year by demanding their candidate be named 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 that demand as "blackmail". str-ssm/pvh
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