Almost a decade after a conflict that brought Macedonia to the brink of civil war, the country's ethnic Albanians are pinning their hopes for the future on faster integration into the EU after Sunday polls.

"The time has come for reforms and strenghthening the state to ensure economic development," said ethnic Albanian leader Menduh Thaci of the opposition Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA).

In 2001, a seven-month conflict opposed Macedonian security forces and an ethnic Albanian rebel movement seeking more rights for its community which makes up around a quarter of Macedonia's population of slightly over two million.

The conflict was ended by an internationally brokered peace deal that included broader constitutional rights for Macedonia's ethnic Albanian minority.

Ali Ahmeti, once the leader of the insurgency movement, now heads the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), the junior partner in the government of Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

Gruevski of ruling conservative VMRO-DPMNE is facing a strong challenge from Branko Crvenkovski's leftist SDSM party for control of parliament in Sunday's election.

Many Albanian politicians are focusing on European Union membership as a way to ensure that minority's rights within Macedonian will be respected and there is no repeat of the inter-ethnic conflict that shook the country a decade ago.

But thoughts of conflict have given way to economic worries in places like Gostivar, once a hub of regional trade some 80 kilometers (48 miles) south west of Skopje.

Tucked in the Polog valley, the town and its nearby villages are home to about 80,000 people, 60 percent of them ethnic Albanians.

Investment is rare and most income comes from a local trade, with no signs of new industries or production.

"We are already in the EU as most of us live off money sent to us by our relatives who live there," said Lluan Dargoni with a hint of irony.

Political analyst Jovan Donev of the Skopje-based think tank EuroBalkan, told AFP that ethnic Albanian parties have focused on the European integrations as "they have no courage to face the reality within their community."

"They are dealing with general political issues and fail to tackle the real economic and social problems within their community," Donev said.

Macedonia's economy is slowly recovering from a deep economic crisis, with gross domestic product (GDP) growing by 5.1 percent in the first quarter of the year and inflation is stable at around four percent.

But unemployment remains high with 31 percent of the potential workforce without a job.

Although Skopje officially gained EU candidate status in 2005, hopes of joining the union have been blocked by a 19-year-long naming dispute with Greece.

Greece has a northern province called Macedonia and says the use of the same name by its neighbour implies a claim on Greek territory.

Since Macedonia gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, it has become common for the winning party among the ethnic Albanian bloc to join the government led by the leading Macedonian party.

With DUI and DPA already veterans on the political scene, all eyes are now on a new party led by Rufi Osmani, who returns to the political scene after 14 years, and could make an impact.

Surveys put DUI as the frontrunner ahead of the other Albanian parties, with up to nine percent of voters' support.

Ethnic Albanians usually hold around 30 seats in the parliament which will, this time, have 123 MPs.