Macedonia’s biggest opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE, elected Hristijan Mickoski as its new leader at an extraordinary congress on December 23.

Mickoski was elected amid frictions in the conservative party, after a group of prominent party officials sought to postpone the congress, claiming Mickoski — who is close to former party leader and former prime minister Gruevski — was unfairly favoured. Gruevski announced his resignation following the party's catastrophic defeat in the October local election, and under domestic and international pressure.

Mickoski, who was the sole candidate for the top position, was elected with 376 of the 438 votes cast by delegates. There were 52 invalid votes while 10 did not vote, news agency MIA reported. Over 100 of the 544 people eligible to vote did not participate in the congress. 

Mickoski, 41, a relative novice to politics, was previously secretary general of the party and is a former director of state-owned power producer ELEM.

Former foreign minister and MP Antonio Milososki, one of those calling for the congress to be postponed, said earlier that Mickoski would serve as a puppet for Gruevski.

His faction asked for the congress to be held at the end of February and for the number of delegates to be increased from 544 to at least 5,000. It also sought a collective presidency of three to five people to lead the party until the new congress, but these demands were rejected by the party’s top bodies.

In a speech after his election, Mickoski denied he would be a proxy for Gruevski and said he will do his utmost to consolidate and strengthen the party so it will be able to win in the next elections. However, as the party is now divided into several factions it is uncertain if the consolidation will take place any time soon.

Gruevski was elected as honorary party president at the congress held on December 22-23 in the small town of Valandovo.

In his long speech during the congress, Gruevski said that he had been betrayed by his closest associates who served at top positions and benefited from the party. He was obviously referring to the group that wanted the congress to be postponed including Milososki, MP Ilija Dimovski and former parliament speaker Trajko Veljanoski. 

Gruevski was seen by many as an authoritarian leader. His resignation was expected to open the way for restructuring and democratisation within the party. Its many members, particularly those employed in the public administration, served as useful bodies to attend rallies and protests, but their opinion was never heard.

However, as the reformist wing of the party did not succeed in postponing the congress and considering there was only one candidate for the top position, the conservative party clearly far from the process of democratisation.