December Elections: Thursday Night and Parliament Speaker

december elections: Political tension has been building in Macedonia for the past two years, and the country has been under a caretaker government since inconclusive early December elections, according to The Chronicle Herald. The hostility boiled over Thursday night over disagreements about the election of a new parliament speaker, leaving more than 100 people injured, including police, protesters and lawmakers. The simmering tensions in Macedonia and the opposing views of powerful nations have led to concerns that the former Yugoslav republic, which narrowly escaped all-out civil war in 2001, could become another flashpoint for increasingly frosty relations between Russia and the West. By Friday, the previous night's chaotic scenes had translated into a war of words between rival politicians despite calls for calm from abroad. Zoran Zaev, the head of the opposition Social Democrats, wore a white adhesive bandage over a gash on his forehead as he accused his attackers of attempted murder with the parliament invasion. In the evening, about 2,000 people held a protest outside the EU mission headquarters in downtown Skopje, calling for new elections. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.