Skopje, 23 May 2024 (MIA) - According to media reports, several possible candidates are in the run for the leadership of SDSM after Dimitar Kovachevski resigned on Thursday following the party’s defeat at the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Asked if he intends to run for the position of SDSM leader, Jovan Despotovski, who heads the Directorate for Technological Industrial Development Zones, told TV 24, he is thinking in that direction as he did three years ago when he ran in the party’s leadership elections.

“I already made that step three years ago, when I believed that the party wasn’t moving in a good direction, and I offered an alternative. I will do the same now. Whether I will formalize this through a candidacy, I will once again say, now is not the time for personal ambitions and for the realization of someone’s childhood wish,” Despotovski said.

According to the media, current Defense Minister Slavjanka Petrovska is also considering running for the party’s leadership.

“I am considering running for leader of SDSM, but I will make the final decision after the beginning of the procedure,” Petrovska told Fokus at the beginning of the week.

The current head of the Customs Administration, Stefan Bogoev, is also rumored to be thinking about a bid for the position of party leader, but in a statement for MIA he said he still hasn’t decided whether he will run.

The names of Oliver Spasovski and Venko Filipche are also circulating in the media as potential candidates in the race for the leadership of SDSM.

In addition to Dimitar Kovachevski, the party was previously led by Branko Crvenkovski, Vlado Buchkovski, Radmila Shekjerinska and Zoran Zaev. 

Photo: MIA Archive