All Presidential Candidates Except Jakimovski Sign Fair Election Code

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 GROM leader stated.

Jakimovski believes it is strange for three debates to be held during mayoral races, but none during a presidential election. According to him, another problem is that certain candidates are maximally favoured in terms of funds.

Pendarovski said he was convinced that the country had enough institutional memory and candidates had enough political culture for the level of debate during the campaign to be maintained and for the integrity of the process not to be compromised.

VMRO-DPMNE candidate Gordana Siljanovska Davkova stated that though the signing represented “moral illusionism”, she would use arguments and talk about her programme during the campaign, while respecting all other candidates.