Europe

Macedonia: Final rallies take place ahead of elections

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Men walk past election posters of Nikola Gruevski, the leader of the ruing VMRO-DPMNE party, set on a fence along a street in Macedonia's capital Skopje, Friday, Dec. 9, 2016. Eleven political parties and coalitions in Macedonia are ending their campaigns ahead of general elections on Sunday. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski) (The Associated Press)

People stand on a street where an election poster of the opposition SDSM party candidate Stevo Pendarovski is displayed above, in Macedonia's capital Skopje, Friday, Dec. 9, 2016. Eleven political parties and coalitions in Macedonia are ending their campaigns ahead of general elections on Sunday. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski) (The Associated Press)

A man rides a bicycle past election posters of Nikola Gruevski, the leader of the ruing VMRO-DPMNE party, set along a street in Macedonia's capital Skopje, Friday, Dec. 9, 2016. Eleven political parties and coalitions in Macedonia are ending their campaigns ahead of general elections on Sunday. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski) (The Associated Press)

Eleven political parties and coalitions in Macedonia are holding final rallies ahead of general elections called to defuse a nearly two-year political crisis sparked by a wiretapping scandal.

Former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's center-right VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition will hold two rallies Friday night in the central towns of Prilep and Krusevo, while their main political rivals, a leftist coalition led by the Social Democrats will hold a rally in the capital.

The early election was part of a Western-brokered agreement to end the crisis, which emerged when the opposition accused the conservative government of an illegal wiretapping operation that targeted 20,000 people.

Nearly 1.8 million registered voters are eligible to choose 123 lawmakers for the single-chamber parliament in Sunday's vote. Three parliamentary seats are reserved for Macedonians living outside the country.