Macedonian leaders try to agree on new early election date

SKOPJE, Macedonia – Macedonia’s feuding party leaders are meeting to try to end a festering political crisis and agree on a new date for national elections that have been twice postponed this year.

Both the governing conservatives and the main opposition Social Democrats have suggested Dec. 11 as an acceptable date for the parliamentary vote.

But party leaders meeting in Skopje Wednesday have first to agree on forming a cross-party body to monitor the electoral campaign.

Macedonia has been in political turmoil since February 2015, following a wiretapping scandal. Holding early elections half-way through the conservatives’ four-year mandate was part of an internationally brokered deal aimed to defuse the crisis.

Elections were first set for April 24, postponed to June 5, and again put off indefinitely.