The Democratic Alternative (, ''Demokratska Alternativa'') or DA is a

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the l ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

. The Democratic Alternative was formed in March 1998 by

Vasil Tupurkovski Vasil Tupurkovski ( mk, Васил Тупурковски; born 8 April 1951) is a Macedonian academic, politician and the former president of the Olympic Committee of North Macedonia. Tupurkovski was born in Skopje, PR Macedonia, FPR Yugoslavi ...

, charismatic member of the last Presidency of the former Yugoslavia. Prior to the 1998 elections, DA entered into a coalition with

VMRO-DPMNE Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity ( mk, Внатрешна македонска револуционерна организација – Демократска партија за ...

with which it won the elections and formed a ruling government. The period in the government of this party, from the end of 1998 to the end of 2000, will be remembered mostly for the controversial decision to recognize the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

instead of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. DA argued that such diplomatic move would help North Macedonia attract significant foreign investment from Taiwan - with even a sum of US$1 billion being mentioned by Tupurkovski. All of this proved to be only a dream, as Taiwanese money never came even after recognition from North Macedonia. By 2002 North Macedonia formally reversed its decision on Taiwan and after much wrangling re-established diplomatic relations with the

. In addition to causing major problems for North Macedonia's economy and international relations, the embarrassing fiasco cost DA its political future. In the 2002 election, the party won only 1.43% of the popular vote and no seats.

References

Political parties established in 1998 Centrist parties in North Macedonia {{NorthMacedonia-party-stub