(corrects month in dateline to July) By Kole Casule SKOPJE, July 26 (Reuters) - Macedonia's parliament on Saturday voted in a new conservative coalition government that will try to get the country's NATO and EU bids back on track while preserving a fragile ethnic peace. The government led by conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski was elected with 78 votes for and none against in a late evening session boycotted by the main opposition parties. Gruevski's VMRO-DPMNE party won a majority of 63 seats in the 120-seat parliament in a June 1 election that was marred by violence and fraud among Macedonia's 25 percent Albanian minority. For the sake of stability, the new coalition government includes the largest ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic Union of Integration, headed by former guerrilla leader Ali Ahmeti. Since splitting peacefully from Yugoslavia in 1991, Macedonia has sought coalitions that include an Albanian party. This has taken on greater significance since a 2001 insurgency fought for greater rights and representation for the country's 500,000 Albanians. A row with Greece over Macedonia's name, coupled with the election violence, have stalled Macedonia's bid to join NATO and cast doubt over its chances of opening accession talks with the EU this year. "We will work day and night to get into the EU and NATO," Gruevski told parliament. "But if Greece keeps on blocking our accession in the long term, we will still continue working towards economic prosperity." He said the government's top five priorities were to achieve annual economic growth of at least 6 percent, join the EU and NATO, fight corruption, achieve good ethnic relations and offer better education to all its citizens. Athens vetoed an invitation for Macedonia to join NATO in April, demanding the country first change its chosen name, which is the same as Greece's northern province. The EU has said the 18-year-old name row must be finally resolved for Macedonia to get a date for membership talks, and made clear it will be watching to see how the country deals with the election violence. Gruevski vowed his government would continue with U.N.-sponsored talks with Greece, but would never accept a solution that would threaten Macedonia's national identity. Macedonia's main opposition party, the Social Democrats, boycotted the parliament session in protest at the recent arrest of a senior party member on charges of fraud. The Democratic Party of Albanians, the country's second-largest minority party, also boycotted the vote, saying election fraud had kept them from emerging as the most popular group among the country's Albanians. (Editing by Ellie Tzortzi and Richard Williams)
A protester throws a stone at policemen during clashes outside Greece's Merchant Marine Ministry in Piraeus near Athens July 25, 2008. At least eight people were killed by a gas explosion ...
