Kavadarci, 10 April 2024 (MIA) – We will defeat Mickoski in the first round, there will be no need for a second round, presidential candidate supported by SDSM and the coalition, Stevo Pendarovski, told a rally in Kavadarci late on Wednesday.

“Mickoski's candidate for president does not know her country. Let me not bring you back to scenes from five years ago, said Pendarovski, referring to the event from the previous elections, when she got the name of the city wrong, and addressing the present citizens of Tikvesh region, as part of the then election campaign,” Pendarovski said.

“In the past five years, I've traveled precisely 80 thousand kilometers with my colleagues. There isn't a single municipality or inhabited place where I haven't been. And in my office, open to everyone, 4,500 people have entered. The office must not be isolated only for the elite,” he emphasized.

When asked about speculation by the opposition on social media about boycotting the second round, Pendarovski stated that such speculations arose after Mickoski and VMRO-DPMNE observed the large turnout of citizens at events organized by SDSM during the campaign.

“In several discussions with high diplomatic representatives in Skopje, he himself announces the boycott. He calls it a silent boycott, saying, "It's essential to see what we will do in the parliamentary elections, and the presidential ones may even fail." Because it's clear to him that the work there is finished even before May 8,” Pendarovski pointed out.
He discussed the achieved results in the past period and the priorities for the future.

“Unlike the previous regime, even active officials from our political structure, who faced the face of justice, are now in detention or prison. There must be a complete and thorough change of the real hindrances, so that everyone gets what they deserve if they break the law. This includes judges and prosecutors who, under the influence of certain centers of political and especially economic power, did not judge according to the constitution and law and international agreements. Instead, they judged selectively. Therefore, many criminals who deserve to be behind bars are not there because they corrupt those judges and prosecutors,” he said.

Therefore, he noted, this political structure, of which he himself is a part, proposes a comprehensive and thorough vetting and verification of the assets of all judges and prosecutors to see who among them has disproportionately increased wealth.
However, he conveyed, it will begin with the politicians.

"I assure you that their presidential candidate won't pass such vetting. Because in the early nineties, they violated the embargo imposed by the United Nations against the former Yugoslavia and have disproportionately increased wealth," Pendarovski underlined.

Pendarovski stated that the largest opposition party, by blocking constitutional changes, isolated the country. If citizens support the current political lineup, he guarantees full EU membership, as they claim, well before the end of this decade.

"If on April 24 and on May 8, this political structure earns your trust, we guarantee that we will become full-fledged members of the European Union well before the end of this decade. With that, the economic development of Macedonia will advance much faster than before," Pendarovski said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pendarovski met the locals of Demir Kapija, Gradsko, Rosoman and Negotino.

Photo: MIA