MP and former Health Minister Venko Filipce is the new SDSM leader. He won Sunday’s intra-party elections by getting the support of 9,052 voters.
Jovan Despotovski and Aleksandar Bajdevski won 2,705 and 905 votes respectively.
Despotovski asked why 10,000 people hadn’t been allowed to vote and why there was talk of an elected leader before the expiry of the 24-hour deadline for negotiations.
Filipce promised thorough changes within the party, adding that he would unite, not divide, people. Both Filipce and the head of the party’s Central Election Commission, Viktorija Avramovska Madic, described the process as democratic and successful.
The elections, however, saw three, not four, candidates, Filipce, Despotovski, and Bajdevski, participate because two days prior, Slavjanka Petrovska had left the race.