Vlado Buckovski, the Macedonian prime minister, has conceded defeat to the nationalist opposition in the country's parliamentary elections. With 36% of the ballots counted, Nikola Gruevski's VMRO-DPMNE party had won 33% of the vote, while Buckovski's ruling Social Democrats had 24%, according to preliminary results released by the State Electoral Commission. "I called Nikola Gruevski to congratulate him with his election victory," Buckovski told his supporters in a televised speech just after midnight on Thursday. Gruevski, a former finance minister, was quick to claim victory, with pledges to get to work on repairing the economy. The tense electoral campaign was marred by violence - including gun battles and a grenade attack - between supporters of rival ethnic Albanian parties that left at least three people wounded. However Wednesday's voting passed off peacefully, and the prime minister cheered it as a "victory for Macedonia" despite his apparent loss.