At a press-conference at around 11 pm on Sunday, VMRO-DPMNE leader and PM Hristijan Mickoski stated that his party had won 30 mayoral races as early as the first round. As he assessed, citizens haven’t elected a party, but rather a direction, values, and people who believe in work.
“This victory is not only ours, but also it’s a victory of all who believe the country should move forward. The road is not easy, but Macedonia has the strength and will. Tonight, we’re not celebrating, but rather promising we will work even more. We will turn every vote into an action”, he stated, calling for the victory to be completed in the second round.
The VMRO-DPMNE leader stated that SDSM was making allegations about irregularities as an excuse for the opposition’s weak results.
According to Mickoski, among the municipalities where VMRO-DPMNE has won as early as the first round are Delcevo, Berovo, Prilep, Stip, Kavadarci, Gevgelija, Sveti Nikole, Ohrid, Karbinci, Demir Hisar, Kisela Voda, Gazi Baba, Sopiste, Resen, and Strumica.
Regarding the Skopje mayoral race, he stated that candidate Orce Gjorgjievski’s win would be inevitable in the second round. Mickoski expects VMRO-DPMNE’s candidate in the Karpos mayoral race, Sotir Lukrovski, to be elected in the second round as well.
The VMRO-DPMNE leader also levelled criticism at DUI and its leader, Ali Ahmeti.
“In these elections, the policies of ethocentrism and artificial topics about eagles and rabbits have been defeated, while the issue of reforms in the opposition is being opened”, Mickoski underlined.