December 12 (SeeNews) - Conservative VMRO-DPMNE party leads in neck-and-neck race with main opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) in the early parliamentary elections held on December 11, according to preliminary results released on Monday morning by the State Election Commission (SEC).
With 99.72% of the ballots counted, VMRO-DPMNE, led by former prime minister Nikola Gruevski, won 452,709 votes who represent 38.06% of the voters who have cast ballot.
SDSM was backed by 436,469 voters or 36.69%, SEC data showed.
The snap vote, part of an EU-brokered agreement among the country's main political parties, aims to resolve a prolonged political crisis.
Among the ethnic Albanian parties and coalitions running in the elections, the Democratic Union of Integration (DUI) won the most votes, 7.30%. DUI governed in coalition with VMRO-DPMNE prior to Gruevski's resignation in January.
BESA Movement, which takes part in parliamentary elections for the first time, was supported by 4.87% of the voters, whereas the coalition Alliance for the Albanians, which comprises three parties, won 2.95% of the votes.
The Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA), previously seen as the main ethnic Albanian party in opposition to VMRO-DPMNE, garnered 2.65% support.
Voter turnout was 66.88%. A total of of 1.78 million Macedonian citizens were eligible to vote.
Final results are expected to be announced by SEC later on Monday.