DPMNE presented the majority of its candidates for Mayors at the upcoming municipal elections scheduled on October 15th. Given their overwhelming win at the previous municipal elections in 2013, DPMNE nominated many incumbent candidates, but also added new ones. DPMNE also signed a contract for cooperation with a number of political parties from their coalition and party leader Nikola Gruevski said that the elections are not merely for the municipal authorities but are important for the future of the country.
“The Government showed incompetence to resolve the problems of the citizens. Just look at all the damage they caused in the past three months, with the drop of the economy and the industrial production, the drop in the average wage coupled with an increase in prices, their campaign aimed against foreign investors in Macedonia and the chaos that rules in all the departments cause by their disastrous personnel choices. We will respond to this with the best possible candidates, with our vision, ideas and projects. Our offer is dedication, responsibility and know-how against the chaos and uncertainty offered by SDS”, said Gruevski.
Some of the mayors who will run for a new term include Ilco Zahariev in Stip, Ratko Dimitrovski in Kocani, Gjoko Strezovski in Resen, Ivan Frangov in Gevgelija, Borce Stamov for Dojran and Arsenco Aleksovski in Kriva Palanka. DPMNE is picking new candidates in Ohrid, where the party will be represented by doctor Mitko Tilev, Kavadarci with businessman Mitko Jancev, and Bitola, where member of Parliament Zoran Ilioski will run to be the next Mayor. The incumbent mayors of Bitola and Kavadarci are among the four DPMNE mayors who faced criminal charges from the Special Prosecutor’s Office or from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, charge which DPMNE considers to be politically driven and meant to discourage their candidates from taking part in the elections. The mayors of Prilep and Veles, who were also charged shortly before the elections, remain in the race, said Emil Dimitriev, who presented the list at a press conference on Thursday.
In Kisela Voda, DPMNE nominated Johan Tarculovski, the police commander who served out a sentence issued by the Hague tribunal for made up war crimes committed in the 2001 war. Also in Skopje, the Mayor of Butel Petre Latinovski will not seek re-election, stepping aside for the younger Council member and taekwondo master Darko Kostovski. DPMNE still hasn’t announced its candidate for the Centar municipality, where SDS pushed the incumbent Mayor Andrej Zernovski to withdraw from the position he won after several re-votes in 2013, and have nominated the head of the Centar parking company and Soros activist Sasa Bogdanovic. Other urban Skopje areas include Aerodrom, where DPMNE already announced its support for incumbent Mayor Ivica Konevski, who will face gym teacher and Soros activist Zlatko Marin from SDS, and Karposh, where SDS is nominating member of Parliament Stefan Bogoev while DPMNE may throw its lot behind incumbent Mayor Stevce Jakimovski, who split from SDS in 2013 and runs his own GROM party. In the only majority ethnic Albanian municipality in Skopje – Cair – DPMNE is nominating member of Parliament Nermin Telovska, while SDS, which won a large number of Cair votes in the 2016 general elections, have not nominated a candidate, and will join forces behind DUI candidate Visar Ganiu.
