Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity
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Template:Politics of the Republic of Macedonia The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (Macedonian: Vnatrešno-Makedonska Revoluciona Organizacija-Demokratska Partija za Makedonsko Nacionalno Edintsvo), or VMRO-DPMNE is a political party in the Republic of Macedonia. The party describes itself as a Christian Democratic party which supports the admission of Macedonia to NATO and the European Union.
The party's name derives from the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, a Macedonian nationalist party founded in 1893. The original IMRO was suppressed in the 1930s, at which time the territory of the current Macedonian Republic was part of Yugoslavia.
After the death of Tito in 1980 Yugoslavia began to disintegrate and democratic politics in Macedonia revived. Many exiles returned to Macedonia from abroad, and a new generation of young Macedonian intellectuals rediscovered the history of Macedonian nationalism. In these circumstances it was not surprising that the name of should be revived. A new IMRO was founded on June 17 1990 in Skopje. Although IMRO claims a line descent from the old IMRO, there is no real connection between the old IMRO and the new one.
The Republic of Macedonia became independent in November 1991, and IMRO emerged as the leading nationalist party. The country's first presidential elections in 1994, however, were won by a moderate former Communist, Kiro Gligorov. IMRO's appeal to Macedonian nationalism was helped by the refusal of Greece to recognise the new state. But IMRO was kept out of power until 1998 by the combination of President Gligorov and Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski, of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM).
By the later 1990s the main issue in Macedonian politics was relations with the large Albanian minority, and in 1998 IMRO came to power under Ljubco Georgievski on a platform of resistance to Albanian demands. In 1999 the IMRO candidate Boris Trajkovski was elected President, completing IMRO's takeover. Once in office Trajkovski pursued a more moderate policy. In 2002 Georgievski's government was defeated at legislative elections. At the last legislative elections, 15 september 2002, the party won 28 out of 120 seats in an alliance with the Liberal Party of Macedonia. In 2004 Trajkovski was killed in a plane crash and Crvenkovski was elected President, defeating the IMRO candidate Sashko Kedev.
External link
- IMRO home page (http://www.vmro-dpmne.org.mk/index.asp) (in Macedonian)
- IMRO home page (http://www.vmro-dpmne.org.mk/english/index.asp) (in English)
- elections in Macedonia (http://psephos.adam-carr.net/macedonia/macedoniaindex.html) (Adam Carr's Electoral Archive)
de:Innere Mazedonische Revolutionäre Organisation - Demokratische Partei für Mazedonische Nationale Einheit mk:ВМРО ДПМНЕ