Pendarovski confirms he Reported to police He was being Followed

The SDSM-led coalition’s presidential candidate, Stevo Pendarovski, confirmed on Friday night he had reported to the Skopje Internal Affairs Sector that he was being followed by a secret intelligence service that “I suspect is close to a party”. VMRO-DPMNE has suspicions over Pendarovski’s claims and considers them to be a “devised scenario of the government that will enable courts to issue orders to follow VMRO-DPMNE officials in the pre-election period”. As the opposition party added in press-release, the citizens’ sense of security mustn’t be a victim and alibi of Pendarovski’s second defeat in presidential elections. Also on Friday, the leader of the party, Hristijan Mickoski, during a visit to Veles urged Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski to say whether Pendarovski was safe or not. “If he is safe, he should deny those comments. If he is not, he should say which secret service it is and to which opposition party it is close,” he stressed. The previous day, too, Pendarovski had said he was being followed. In his view, three photos made over the past 10 days that have been posted on social media prove that. On Saturday, PM Zoran Zaev said Pendarovski wasn’t being followed, but rather only photos were taken to prove what type of car he had. Zaev is adamant that there are no secret services in Macedonia and that the presidential candidate is safe. However, Pendarovski said the same day the reason for his fear was statement made by Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski at the end of January about public figures being followed.