Politics of the Republic of Macedonia

Politics of the Republic of Macedonia occurs within the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Executive branch

President
Branko Crvenkovski
SDSM
12 May 2004
-
Prime Minister
Nikola Gruevski
VMRO-DPMNE
27 August 2006The role of the President of the Republic is mostly ceremonial, with the real power resting in the hands of the President of the Government. The President is the commander-in-chief of the state armed forces and a president of the state Security Council. The President of the Republic is elected every five years and he or she can be elected twice at most. The current President is Branko Crvenkovski. The President is obliged to entrust the mandate for constituting the Government to a candidate from the party or parties which has/have a majority in the Assembly. The Government is elected by the majority vote of all the deputies in the Assembly.

The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. The power of the President of the Republic is mostly limited, with the real power resting in the hands of the President of the Government of Macedonia. The last election was last held October 2004: Branko Crvenkovski was elected president in a two-round ballot with 60.6%, defeating Sasko Kedev with 39.4%.

The current government is a coalition of VMRO-DPMNE, the Democratic Party of Albanians, the Liberal Party of Macedonia, the New Social Democratic Party, the Socialist Party of Macedonia, and the Party for the Movement of Turks in Macedonia.

Legislative branch

The Assembly ("Sobranie") has 120 members, elected for a four year term, by proportional representation.

Political parties and elections

Judicial branch

Judiciary power is exercised by courts, with the court system being headed by the Judicial Supreme Court, Constitutional Court and the Republican Judicial Council. The assembly appoints the judges.

Administrative divisions

With the passage of a new law and elections held in 2005, local government functions are divided between 78 municipalities ( _mk. општини, "opštini"; singular: _mk. општина, "opština". The capital, Skopje, is governed as a group of ten municipalities collectively referred to as "the City of Skopje". Municipalities in the Republic of Macedonia are units of local self-government. Neighbouring municipalities may establish cooperative arrangements.

Ethnic diversity

The country's main political divergence is between the largely ethnically-based political parties representing the country's Macedonian majority and Albanian minority. The issue of the power balance between the two communities led to a brief war in 2001, following which a power-sharing agreement was reached. In August 2004, the Republic's parliament passed legislation redrawing local boundaries and giving greater local autonomy to ethnic Albanians in areas where they predominate.

Foreign relations

The Republic is member of the ACCT,
BIS,
CE,
CEI,
EAPC,
EBRD,
ECE,
FAO,
IAEA,
IBRD,
ICAO,
ICCt,
ICRM,
IDA,
IFAD,
IFC,
IFRCS,
ILO,
IMF,
IMO,
Interpol,
IOC,
IOM (observer),
ISO,
ITU,
OPCW,
OSCE,
PCA,
PFP,
UN,
UNCTAD,
UNESCO,
UNIDO,
UPU,
WCL,
WCO,
WHO,
WIPO,
WMO,
WToO,
WTrO (observer)