North Macedonia has new President, Premier Zaev to make cabinet reshuffles

The State Electoral Commission of North Macedonia announced the final results of the Presidential elections. The candidate of the ruling coalition Stevo Pendarovski earned 51.66% of the votes and the candidate of VMRO-DPMNE Gordana Siljanovska was supported by 44.73% of the voters. Stevo Pendarovski announced that right after he assumes office on May 12 he will sign the laws his predecessor Georgi Ivanov refused to sign and will try to mediate between the government and the opposition so they can find a common language. Meanwhile, Premier Zoran Zaev announced that he is planning to make cabinet reshuffles, in order to remove some weaknesses in the government.

Turkey’s Supreme Election Council rules for rerun of mayoral elections in Istanbul

Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (YSK) has ruled for e rerun of the local elections in Istanbul. The decision came after the ruling Justice and Development Party presented new evidence of election irregularities. The opposition candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu condemned the decision of YSK for a rerun of the mayoral elections in Istanbul calling it a “betrayal decision” and many citizens of Turkey’s biggest city protested on the streets of Istanbul against the decision of the Supreme Election Council.

US envoy for religious tolerance on Balkan tour

From May 7 until 12 the US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback will visit Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova. In Athens Sam Brownback will discuss opportunities to strengthen religious freedoms in Greece. Later, he will visit Mount Athos. On Wednesday, Sam Brownback will discuss in Sofia opportunities to promote dialogue between Orthodox Christians and other religions, a statement of the U.S. Department of State reads.  The purpose of the visit of the US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback to Romania and Moldova is similar.

Pristina calls on Belgrade to recognize genocide in Kosovo

A committee with the National Assembly of Kosovo has prepared a resolution, according to which the authorities in Belgrade “should recognize the genocide in Kosovo in 1998-1999”. Serbia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dačić commented that “the leaders in Pristina have completely lost connection with reality, because the Serbians, not the Albanians, were expulses from Kosovo”.

NATO cluster bombs found at Podgorica Airport

Many NATO cluster bombs were found on the territory of Podgorica Airport. The bombs were found near a fire-station building and the runway for civil flights. Dan newspaper comments that fortunately no one was injured, because airport workers maintaining the green areas around the runways worked in close proximity to the dangerous materials. Local and foreign experts took part at the operation.

Written by: Stoimen Pavlov

English version: Kostadin Atanasov