Skopje, 11 August 2025 (MIA) - At the local elections I expect a campaign that will focus on projects, but evidently, there is a political party, above all I am referring to the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), which, instead of talking about projects for the future, is taking us 20-25-30 years back and imposes such topics, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski told journalists on Monday when quizzed what kind of campaign he expects at the upcoming local elections.

Mickoski criticized DUI because, he said, "under the veil of false patriotism, they will try to create an equation between themselves and the Vlen coalition’s offer, and to discourage non-Albanian voters from going out to vote, making them think – well, they’re all the same, why should we vote for them. No, that’s the mistake, that’s the trap they are preparing," said the Prime Minister in response to journalists' questions at an event in Petrovec.

“Together with certain structures in the opposition and affiliated websites and media, they are trying to impose an atmosphere in society, particularly targeting non-Albanian voters, Macedonians and others, so that when they go to the polls, they are cautious about whom they vote for, because, by bringing up topics from 20–25 years ago, they aim to create an equivalence between the Democratic Union for Integration and, let’s say, the Vlen coalition. The goal is for these voters to either abstain or not vote at all, thinking: ‘Well, look, these ones are just as criminal as we were for 22 years, and just as nationalist as we are, so better not to vote for them, you won’t vote for us anyway.’ They believe that by doing this, we’ll forget about the shopping malls, the office football games, the instant companies for coal import, and all the stealing that took place over the past two decades,” Mickoski said.

This is because, the Prime Minister added, “if the citizens go to the polls and don’t vote for the Vlen coalition, then the people at DUI think they will be absolute winners and they will then try to provoke early parliamentary elections”.

“That’s not how this works and it won’t. They are once again insulting the citizens and betting on short memory. That’s why I call on all citizens, from all ethnicities, to make a choice between the concept that devastated Macedonia for more than 20 years – this has nothing to do with rights, nothing to do with framework agreements, these are local elections – and those who want to build a joint future, that’s the concept. I call on all citizens, literally all citizens, to consider whether we will fall in the trap set up by DUI through certain opposition media and websites to create such a paranoid situation where we are commenting on topics from 20, 25, 30 years ago, or whether we will talk about new sports halls, new motorways, new kindergartens, schools, new investments, etc.,” Mickoski said.

Mickoski said this is the choice at these elections. He also urged the citizens to see who the mayoral candidates put forward by DUI are.

“These are people who, aside from topics from 20–25 years ago, have nothing new to offer. And they are solely responsible for the fact that more than 150,000 Albanians have left Macedonia over the past 20–25 years. If anyone has any doubts, then they are fooling themselves,” Mickoski said.

Photo: MIA