At a press-conference at around 9 pm on Sunday, SDSM leader Venko Filipce said his party had won, in addition to three mayoral races in the first round, in Centar, Zrnovci, and Makedonska Kamenica. He also alleged that SDSM’s mayoral candidates in the second round had faced unprecedented pressures and blackmails from VMRO-DPMNE on a daily basis.
According to Filipce, the results show that SDSM is the party with the second-biggest number of council members, in addition to being the first-ranked opposition party.
“The results of these elections have shown the ruling party will never again have the results it did in the previous [2024] elections”, Filipce assessed.
He also stated that his party’s Congress would hold a meeting and that there would be staff changes. However, he will not resign.
“I said the last time, too, that I wouldn’t resign because I’ve been the leader for a very brief period of time. The leadership will be reshuffled in the period ahead”, he noted.