There were some surprises at today’s convention of VMRO-DPMNE and the “Coalition For a Better Macedonia”, where the candidate lists were presented for the upcoming early parliamentary elections, at the “Metropolis Arena” in Skopje.
Some names were not found on the lists, such as former ministers Dime Spasov, Vladimir Pesevski, Risto Spirovski, nor were former ministers Zoran Stavreski, Gordana Jankulovska, Mile Janakieski or Igor Ivanovski. Not even Oliver Andonov, nor Sasho Mijalkov found themselves on the lists.
Of the total 123 candidates for MPs for the Coalition for a Better Macedonia led by the VMRO-DPMNE, 50 are women, but none of them made first place on the voting list. The highest female placed on the list is the Minister of Culture, Elizabeta Kanceska-Milevska, who is in second position in the first constituency. In the first five positions of the lists, there is usually one woman, apart from the first and fourth constituencies where among the top five, there are two women.
After presenting the candidates, the first to address the audience was the first candidate for the diaspora or in the seventh constituency, Ramazan Miftaroski from Venice, who is originally from Mogorce, Debar.
The first candidate for the sixth constituency, Vlatko Gjorcev began his speech by mentioning the long awaited elections and that there were still 20 days until the election, but that the public were already ready.
Antonio Milososki, who heads the list of candidates for the fourth constituency, said that by voting for VMRO-DPMNE it is the same like voting for Macedonia’s partners, such as the EU, NATO, Russia, China, Turkey and the United States, where he congratulated the President-elect Donald Trump.
Ilija Dimovski, the winner of the candidate list of the third constituency, said that SDSM does not know how to compile a list, let alone lead the country. He refrained on commenting on Zoran Zaev’ remarks of the “ugly faces of the Macedonians.”
Nikola Todorov said they would not allow a black scenario to be carried out for Macedonia.
Nikola Poposki, who topped the list in the first constituency, began his speech with a joke about a neighbour who told him that he smelt victory in the election this year, to which he responded that they would have three victories.
The party leader, Nikola Gruevski, who be facing SDSM leader in the fourth constituency said that there comes a point when Zaev will be defeated, “for everything he has done to Macedonia” and urged that this time they need 63 seats to win. He noted that the during the campaign they will be talking about what they plan to do and build, and that will not be destructive with attack, like the opposition, the SDSM.
