The early elections were proposed by the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) after Greece vetoed Macedonia's bid to join NATO at the 2008 Bucharest summit over the Macedonia naming dispute. The DUI's request was supported by the ruling coalition of VMRO–DPMNE and the Democratic Party of Albanians. Although the opposition Social Democratic Union and Liberal Democratic Party boycotted the vote, 70 of the 120 MPs voted in favour of the motion, with all others absent from the vote.