Gashi: Next PM-designate will have to talk to us first

Skopje, 28 April 2024 (MIA) — The next prime minister designate given the mandate to form a new government will have to talk with us first; it is in the country's best interest to have ethnic Albanian representatives in the government and we will do all we can to amend the Constitution together with our future partner, Alternativa leader Afrim Gashi told MIA in an interview.

Gashi, who is heading the Worth It coalition's MP candidate list for the Second Electoral District in the upcoming parliamentary elections, said many ethnic Albanians did not turn out to vote for President. He was commenting on the results of the first round of the presidential election, in which their candidate, Gostivar Mayor Arben Taravari, won 83,393 votes (9.20%), and 75 more votes in Gostivar than his opponent Bujar Osmani, the DUI-led European Front candidate, who won a total of 121,088 votes (13.37%).

According to Gashi, there is a notable difference in voter turnout in presidential, local and parliamentary elections. He cited as an example the number of votes Imer Selmani received in 2009 as a presidential candidate and as a party leader in the presidential and local elections held that year.

"I will give you the most plastic example, from 2009, when the presidential and local elections were held on the same day. Imer Selmani, who was a presidential candidate, was also the leader of New Democracy. On that Election Day, as a presidential candidate, he won 150,000 votes, and as a party, around 50,000 votes. People vote differently in different elections. The second reason is that an Albanian is unlikely to become President in a direct election. For a long time, Albanians have not had a culture of great turnout in presidential elections. What is more important is that in the parliamentary elections, when there is a higher turnout, they will exercise their will. While DUI controls their voters clientelistically, bribing the majority of them or threatening them to come out and vote, our voters either come to the polls, or don't, out of their own free will. Our perception is that on May 8, the turnout will be higher and you will see a big difference in Tetovo and in Gostivar, in Chair and everywhere else," Gashi said.

Denying reports that Taravari had met with DUI leader Ali Ahmeti, Gashi said the announcement had been made because Ahmeti's credo was "divide and rule" by creating mistrust between the ethnic Albanian opposition bloc coalition partners.

"The trust between our coalition partners is very high," Gashi said. "Mr. Taravari did not meet with him [Ahmeti] or anyone else from DUI. There was no offer made. This is totally false. It is really shameful that a very serious media outlet from Albania and this political party, going after the votes of the Albanians, is once again manipulating citizens this way. What they told the public was a total lie," Gashi said, commenting on an Albanian Top Channel report claiming that Taravari had met Ahmeti and received an offer from him on April 24.

According to him, the election platform of the Worth It coalition is based on what citizens need the most. Their priority is EU membership, he said, and they would do their best to convince their future partner in the government to make the required constitutional changes.

"Our first priority will be European integration. We will do everything to convince our future partner to enter into the process of constitutional amendments. We will talk with the international factor. We will do everything to enter into a process in which we will open the chapters in practice and close them as soon as possible so Macedonia becomes an EU member. That is our first priority," Gashi said.

According to him, this is a complex process, and his coalition would advocate for protecting the Macedonian linguistic and cultural identity and for putting pressure on Bulgaria.

"This is a very complex process. In such complex processes involving a neighboring country, the EU with all its states, the United States of America, you should first of all be prepared to defend your main priorities. You should know the country's goals. We want to be part of Europe. That is the first criterion. If the second criterion is protecting the Macedonians' linguistic and cultural identity, we agree we can act together toward this. On the other hand, we will see what we can do to put pressure on Bulgaria together or to convince our international factors to talk to them. We expect a new political climate in Bulgaria as well. Politics is a difficult process. It needs negotiation. It needs compromises. If you have the willingness and you want to go through this process, you will have to invest everything you have as political capital. I think that everyone in our country, most of the political parties, agree on our strategic orientation to join the EU. We will have to go through this process," Gashi said.

Economy reform being their platform's second pillar, in four years he promises that the minimum wage would rise to at least EUR 800; prices would be lower; and the business climate for investments would be better, attracting the diaspora community to invest in the country.

Highlighting the necessity of the platform's third pillar, the fight against crime and corruption, Gashi said impunity in the country had become a phenomenon. He recalled Alternativa's proposal, when they were part of the Government, for a constitutional amendment preventing the crime of political corruption from ever expiring. He said they would also advocate for a complete overhaul of the educational system. Their platform promises also include improving health care, social problems, and decentralization.

Gashi said their voters had a high degree of political culture and awareness so they could not be told whom to support in the presidential runoff. Their voters, he said, were aware and did not need anyone to tell them what to do. He said they knew exactly what to do and they would do what is best for them and for the country.

Their coalition's expectations from the parliamentary elections are based on the unity in the ethnic Albanian bloc, their good platform, the people on their candidate lists as well as the fact, he said, that voters already knew what is in store if they voted for their opponent. "They can expect a change for the better only if they vote for us. I am convinced that citizens will choose changes this time and rest assured it will happen on May 8," Gashi said.

Asked whether they are see themselves as a future coalition partner of VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski, who also says he is confident of winning, the Alternativa leader said the presidential election results hinted at what the next government might look like.

According to Gashi, the Worth It coalition is the only legitimate representative of the ethnic Albanian community, and the future PM-designate needs to talk with them first because it is in the country's best to have Albanian representation in the new government. He also said they would insist for most of their platform promises to become part of the new coalition government's goals.

"I wouldn't like to presume anything about this process, but the results of the presidential elections already hint at what the future government might look like. First, it is very important for us to get as many Albanian votes as possible. The second important thing is that we, as a coalition, are the only ones who have the legitimacy to represent the Albanians. Unfortunately, DUI abandoned this concept. They formed a coalition with eight or nine other political parties representing other ethnic communities, which is perfectly fine, but this is only important in what they are doing with SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE. They announced this. They said they were not pitting themselves against us, but against VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM. You will see that they will lose to them. We will see the results. But as far as forming a new government is concerned, since 1990 there has been no government without Albanians or legitimate representatives of Albanians. That is why the future government or the future PM-designate needs to first talk with our coalition. If we don't accept, then the numbers, democracy, 61 MPs come into play. But the unwritten rule — for the sake of the stability of the country, really, and for the sake of everything — it is good for the government, in addition to one main Macedonian political entity, to have a party that will represent the Albanians, Gashi said.

He rejected the possibility of entering a coalition with Levica, whereas a coalition with ZNAM is acceptable to them, given their cooperation in the Kumanovo local government so far.

"Levica is out of the question at this moment, considering our opposing views on very important issues, such as on the strategic orientation of the state, views on the Albanians and the orientation of the Albanians, etc. The extreme Levica often has extreme right-wing views, which means that at this moment we cannot talk and cooperate with them. It is not a problem to cooperate with Maksim Dimitrievski's party. After all, we, Alternativa and the Alliance for Albanians, are part of the local government in Kumanovo with Mr. Dimitrievski and we are happy with our cooperation, the Alternativa leader said.

He also spoke about the support from Kosovo's Self-determination Movement, which, he said, was a result of the local Albanians who supported Self-determination wanting to join the Worth It coalition to bring in changes for the Albanian community.

- Self-determination in Macedonia is more authentic than the created public perception of it being outside interference. You know our relations with the Kosovo Albanians. We lived in the same country for a long time, we have family ties, etc. A number of Albanians in Macedonia are politically oriented toward Self-determination and support it. Because most of them are opposition-oriented, they wanted to be part of our coalition for changes regarding the Albanians, so there was no expectation that Self-determination would be against us. The votes of those Albanians in Macedonia who support Self-determination are ours. Our expectations were fully met. We are happy they joined us in this very important unifying process for political rotation in the Albanian bloc, Gashi said.

According to him, the election campaign looks good on the surface, but if you scratch the surface, he said, it was evident that what DUI was doing is not in accordance with the elementary principles of democratic elections.

Most of their votes, Gashi said, were "the result of coercion, bought through their corrupt deals, through the casinos, through the purchase of shopping malls, projects like Corridor 8, through extortion of percentages they buy voters with."

"They threaten them, forcing them to vote, which is not at all in accordance with democratic principles. But the citizens are afraid and do not know where and how to report this. We had one example in Kumanovo on April 24, when a DUI activist was seen buying voters. He was reported to the police, and the police came to the person who made the report and demanded he be detained for making a false report. Imagine the situation Albanians are in today," Gashi noted.

He expects from DUI to continue "fighting this way for every vote". "They now have a clear picture of who voted for us and they will do everything they can to bribe our voters, threatening them, doing all they can to reduce the number of our voters, but you will see that this will not pay off. I am convinced and I call on all the authorities, the Prosecutor's Office and the police, to truly create conditions for fair elections this time. Nobody has the right to abuse the state apparatus this way, so some political party can have more votes," Alternativa leader Afrim Gashi said.