SEC President Derkoski: Early start of Campaign not registered

The State Election Commission (SEC) President, Oliver Derkoski, said on Monday an early start of the presidential campaign by some presidential candidate hadn’t been registered. Candidates should be confirmed by the SEC by 21 March. Until then, all activities of candidates will be considered party meetings instead of an unofficial start of the campaign, which will officially begin on 1 April. The deadline to collect signatures expires on 9 March. VMRO-DPMNE’s candidate, Gordana SIljanovska, stopped the process when she collected 16,000. Since Saturday, Blerim Reka has received 6,000. Ambdi Bajram has so far received the support of around 3,000 citizens, but he said several days ago he would withdraw the List and not participate in the race. Josif Mircevski, Gospodin Popovski and Filip Petrovski, too, are collecting signatures. Just 400 people from the diaspora have registered to vote. The SEC, State Audit Office and State Commission for Prevention of Corruption signed on Monday a Memorandum of Cooperation in the period leading up to the elections.