Macedonian politician: Foreigners interfering after vote

SKOPJE, Macedonia – The leader of Macedonia’s conservative coalition that won a national election has accused “foreign mediators, ambassadors and representatives of foreign states” of meddling in his country’s affairs.

Nikola Gruevski, the former prime minister, spoke in front of the State Election Commission offices in Skopje, the capital, late Saturday without specifically mentioning a foreign country. His VMRO-DPMNE party narrowly defeated the opposition Social Democrats, who are challenging the official results in an appeal to the electoral commission.

Gruevski said foreigners were influencing some commission members and some political parties.

The conservatives are expected to form a coalition government with their long-time partner, the Albanian-minority Democratic Union for Integration.

The leaders of all four Albanian parties that won seats in Parliament in Macedonia were holding talks in Tirana with Albanian Premier Edi Rama.