Skopje, 16 April 2024 (MIA) – As the first round of the presidential elections edges closer, the rhetoric of the presidential hopefuls is starting to heat up. Candidates in the race for the April 24 elections return to their campaign trails on Tuesday to resume rallies and meetings with citizens.  

VMRO-DPMNE presidential candidate Gordana Siljanovska Davkova will present her election platform before citizens of Dojran, Valandovo and Gevgelija.

ZNAM Movement presidential candidate Maksim Dimitrievski will meet with citizens at the Green Market in downtown Skopje. 

Levica-backed presidential candidate Biljana Vankovska is set to meet with citizens of Vinica and Kochani.

Worth It coalition presidential candidate Arben Taravari will hold a press conference at the Skenderbeg square in Skopje, while the coalition's Forum of Women will hold a regional conference. 

SDSM presidential candidate Stevo Pendarovski is set to visit Chashka and Sveti Nikole, and then hold a rally in Veles.

At yesterday's rallies and meetings with citizens, promises of a better life dominated the rhetoric of the presidential contenders, whose contest was also marked by mutual accusations. 

Pendarovski said the only hope for young people was allying with the West.

"None of these young people who move from Macedonia go to Russia, Belarus or China. They seek their fortune in America, Germany, Canada or New Zealand. All developed countries economically, and all of them great economies. The best universities are there, the best health systems are there, the most independent legal systems are there. We want to be there so we can be like them, not to get their money but their knowledge, principles and values based on which we will organize our Macedonia to look like an average European, developed and prosperous country. That is why it is the only option," he added. 

Pendarovski called for a mass turnout on April 24. 

He also dismissed VMRO-DPMNE's allegations about secret meetings on pardoning politicians. 

ZNAM presidential candidate Maksim Dimitrievski told an election rally in Veles that he wants to be a President who generates solutions, proposing laws in the interest of the citizens and not signing into law whatever bills political elites tell him to sign. 

Dimitrievski sharply criticized the current party in power, saying their rule was an autocracy weighed down by corruption.

"The two political elites, greedy for power, have been trying for twenty years to adapt to DUI. They have taken over more than half of the executive power, and they are also taking over the independent, judicial power daily. Professionals in the system have been put on the sidelines while party soldiers make all the moves," Dimitrievski said on Monday.

Levica presidential candidate Vankovska had meetings with Centar and Kisela Voda residents on Monday. 

"Election day will be a non-business day only for the public administration, which is unfair to workers in the private sector whose employers may stop them from voting," she said. 

According to her, this is discrimination against those voters, because people who work in Skopje and vote in their hometowns would not be able to exercise their voting rights.

Worth It coalition presidential candidate Taravari presented his election platform at a central rally in the Tetovo municipality of Zhelino. In his speech he commented on relations with Kosovo and Albania. 

"We will fully coordinate with Albania and Kosovo. We will deepen the ties with Tirana and Pristina, because they are our brothers by blood. We will not do what my opponent did, whose first visit as Minister of Foreign Affairs was to Belgrade and never had a bilateral visit to Kosovo," stressed Taravari.

Taravari said that his opponent, Bujar Osmani, had only now remembered to propose exiting the Open Balkan initiative, "an initiative of Vučić, supported by Lavrov".

DUI-led European Front coalition's presidential candidate Bujar Osmani at a Debar election rally on Monday evening pledged that, if elected President, North Macedonia would become a member of the EU in five years and that no government would be formed without vetting.

"My first promise is the country's EU membership by 2030. If I rose to the challenge, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, to open negotiations with the EU after a 17-year wait, believe me that as President I can complete our EU membership process in the next five years. I will use all the potential of the European Front, all my knowledge, the knowledge of the processes I have led, my experience, my contacts around the world, to complete this process in the next five years," Osmani said.

He invited his opponent Gordana Siljanovska Davkova to debate with him.

"I have been inviting her for a debate over the past three days. I publicly invite her to come to a debate with me, if she has any arguments to convince me that isolation is better than integration," said Osmani. 

Identity is not tied to history or culture, but to principles and values, so it is European to remind the European Union of its fundamental values and principles – let them behave accordingly so we can believe in our future in the EU, presidential candidate Gordana Siljanovska Davkova said at a Prilep election rally on Monday evening.

"The European Union is superior through respecting European values and principles. We lack something, and that is constitutional patriotism. This does not mean to swear by the Constitution and it also does not mean we should keep changing it – but that we should defend the principles and values of the Constitution," Siljanovska Davkova said.

She also said she was ready for a presidential debate but "there are no candidates for a debate."

"They keep announcing it, but they never show up before responsible reporters," Siljanovska Davkova said.

Photo: MIA archive