SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
The Presidential candidates of the government and the opposition, Stevo Pendarovski and Gordana Siljanovska Davkova had a face-off in the show “Only Truth” on Kanal 5 TV. In their duel, the presidential candidates of the 2019 presidential election tackled several issues, with both of them expecting the citizens to grant them their support and votes. “In this election, the citizens will think very well before deciding whether to elect a concept that leads us forward towards NATO and EU, or an attempt for revision of agreements which established cohesion and opened to us the door of European integration,” Pendarovski said. Siljanovska Davkova said that it is time for the citizens to vote for persons, not empty concepts. “After the summit in Berlin it became very clear that this government has no idea what to do with the reforms and how to implement them,” Siljanovska Davkova replied. Discussing the support of the voters of Albanian ethnicity, Pendarovski said that they will never vote for a person that pledges revision of the Law on Languages and the Ohrid Framework Agreement, while Siljanovska Davkova said that the Albanians need a new law which will cover a broader debate and will not be adopted by force or too quickly. The name issue and the Prespa Agreement were also topic of discussion, with Pendarovski asking Siljanovska Davkova what is the current constitutional name of the country. “The negotiators named it Republic of North Macedonia, but I am a free citizen and have my own right of self-determination. I shall not violate the Constitution, but I will never use that adjective because it violates the Constitution itself,” Siljanovska Davkova replied.
