Macedonia poll vote cancelled

President Trajkovski was among those in favour of postponing the poll

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- A vote to dissolve the Macedonian government and begin a general election process required under a peace deal with ethnic Albanian rebels has been cancelled.

An early poll had been due to be held on January 27 under the terms of the August agreement, which pulled Macedonia back from the brink of civil war.

The parliament, which has a mandate until November 2002, must dissolve two months before a general election, but Stojan Andov, the the speaker of Macedonia's parliament, cancelled the vote on Tuesday.

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Most of the 116 MPs had said they would vote against the January date because of serious delays in re-establishing state authority over rebel-inhabited territory.

Ethnic Albanian MPs had also argued against elections in January because this would leave parliament no time to enact a law on devolving power to majority Albanian municipalities.

Local self-government is also a precondition for a conference of foreign donors, scheduled for mid-December, to raise money for reconstruction in the impoverished former Yugoslav republic.

President Boris Trajkovski and international peace brokers in Skopje had also favoured putting off the election, citing April as a more realistic target date.

Andov abruptly ended Tuesday's session after 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, the moderate SDSM had already agreed with ruling nationalists that a January vote was unworkable because law and order had not been restored in the 10 percent of Macedonia under the sway of former insurgents.

Steps to return police to the rebel areas were held up by parliament's need to ratify civil rights reforms required in exchange for the rebel movement's disbandment under NATO supervision in September.

Andov rejected SDSM charges that he had recklessly held up ratification, insisting the original deadline of September 27 was unfeasible because "terrorist groups" had not disarmed yet and more time was needed to reword "flawed" amendments.

The government and international envoys are now finalising plans for a phased re-entry of Macedonian police and displaced people to the northern insurgent heartland, envisaged to be completed by mid- to late January.