Macedonia's main opposition party elects new leader

21/09/2008

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- The biggest opposition party, the Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM), elected Zoran Zaev as its interim leader late Thursday (September 18th). Zaev, 35, will replace Radmila Sekerinska, who has been struggling to overcome divisions within the party since it lost the June parliamentary elections. More than 600 delegates present at the SDSM's eighth congress agreed that Zaev will hand over the post to President Branko Crvenkovski, the long-standing former party leader in May 2009, when his mandate ends. Zaev is a former mayor of the southeastern town of Strumica. He was arrested in July for alleged connections to organised crime circles. His arrest caused the SDSM to stage a short parliamentary boycott. (AFP, Makfax - 19/09/08)