Campaigning in Macedonia ahead of the first ever snap polls in the 17-year-long history of the small Balkan country will end at midnight on May 30.

The closing rallies of the VMRO-DPMNE-led For a Better Macedonia coalition, the Coalition for Europe - Sonce around Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) and the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) will be held in Strumica, Kumanovo, Skopje and Tetovo, respectively, Macedonian broadcaster Makfax reported.

The election is scheduled for June 1. It was called after parliament in Skopje voted to dissolve itself on April 12. This followed an enduring crisis that faced prime minister Nikola Gruevski's government over calls by the DPA for more rights for ethnic Albanians, which was followed by a row over Macedonian slowness over whether or not to recognise Kosovo, and finally the Nato summit which saw Skopje failing to secure an invitation to join the alliance.

The weeks of campaigning have seen incidents involving attacks on party offices, homes and shops of rival party officials, alleged assassination attempts, and explosions. Most of the incidents have involved arch-rivals for the ethnic Albanian vote, the DPA, which has been part of the governing coalition, and DUI.

The European Union, Nato and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe all condemned the violence during the campaign.

The latest of the violence outbursts took place on May 29, when DUI and DPA activists clashed before a DUI rally in Tetovo, Macedonian media reported.