On Tuesday, all presidential candidates except GROM’s Stevco Jakimovski signed the Fair and Democratic Election Code. The GROM leader and candidate said he was dissatisfied that the debates initiated by SDSM’s candidate, Stevo Pendarovski, who’s running for a second term, would not be held. “I will respect the Code. However, if there are no debates, I will not sign it,” ...

The election HQ of SDSM presidential candidate Stevo Pendarovski, who’s running for a second term, has said that the master debates involving all presidential candidates will not be held. As it pointed out on Tuesday, though consensus had initially been reached for the two debates, the political and media circumstances currently are not sustainable for conditions to be created for ...

Ziadin Sela has won the legal battle for Alliance for Albanians with the head of the other wing, Arben Taravari. Sela himself told Kanal 5 on Tuesday that his lawyer had confirmed for him that he now had the party seal. According to the court’s decision, Sela, whose wing recently joined DUI’s pre-election coalition, is again the party leader. Commenting ...

After the postponement of the start of the court process against him concerning alleged abuse of official position and authority, Kumanovo Mayor Maksim Dimitrievski, who’s also a presidential candidate, described on Tuesday the charge as staged. “It aims to harm my dignity. I faced pressure in the previous elections, too” he said. Regarding the process, Dimitrievski stated he had the ...

Fair and transparent processes, commitment, personal integrity, and joint action were among the recommendations to restore trust in the judiciary, highlighted in the frames of the judicial conference on quality adjudication as a perquisite to restore public trust, held in Skopje on Tuesday. At the event, organised by the Association of Judges, with OSCE Mission support, the Mission’s Deputy Head, ...

Two people have been detained on suspicion of helping in relation to Monday’s incident in Aracinovo, when fire was opened on Mayor Ridvan Ibraimi and his group. The Skopje Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office stated on Tuesday that it was continuously issuing orders and instructions in order for the case to be solved. The motives behind the attack are officially not ...

At around one pm on Monday, in Aracinovo, an unknown person opened fire on a group led by Mayor Ridvan Ibraimi. Immediately after the attack, the officer, who was part of the group as Ibraimi’s bodyguard, called fellow officers about the attack. The group included also Ibraimi’s driver and a Municipality employee. They were walking when an armed person came ...

Ex-secret police chief Saso Mijalkov is set to be released on parole in December. The decision was announced on Monday by the Criminal Court. Previously, the Court of Appeals had accepted his appeal and returned the Empire case to the first-instance institution. As a result of the plea deal, Mijalkov was given a three-year prison sentence in the Empire process. ...

“SDSM’s election lists will be submitted to the State Election Commission today,” party leader Dimitar Kovacevski said on Monday. He expects the elections to be democratic. “I also expect candidate Stevo Pendarovski to win the presidential election and the SDSM-led coalition to win the parliamentary elections,” Kovacevski stressed. Also on Monday, Bosniak Democratic Union (BDU) joined DUI’s pre-election front. The ...

The Alliance for Albanians wing headed by Arben Taravari finalised on Monday its MP candidates, which will be part of the joint lists with the VLEN coalition. Taravari’s wing will only have one list carrier, Salim Sulejmani in Electoral District 5. In Electoral District 1, his party will have a candidate in the fourth position. However, additional consultations will be ...