A snap parliamentary election is underway in Macedonia, with the country also electing a new president. The tandem poll is expected to bolster the position of the ruling conservatives.

A snap parliamentary election is underway in Macedonia, with the country also electing a new president. The tandem poll is expected to bolster the position of the ruling conservatives.

The vote for the parliament is being held a year earlier than planned after the small Balkan nation's ruling VMRO-DPMNE party could not agree with its ethnic Albanian coalition partner, the DUI, on a combined presidential candidate.

More than 1.7 million voters are eligible to choose between 14 parties and coalitions to form a new parliament made of 123 seats. The VMRO-DPMNE, led by current Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski (pictured, left) is expected to win and hopes to increase its share of seats in parliament.

"We need a majority so nobody can blackmail is and we can keep up with the program…that would lead Macedonia into the EU and NATO," Gruevski said Friday in a final election rally.