Skopje, 15 April 2024 (MIA) – The candidates running for president for the April 24 elections are resuming Monday their campaign trails to present their programs at rallies and meetings with citizens.

The presidential candidate of the SDSM-led coalition Stevo Pendarovski is scheduled to visit the Skopje municipalities of Saraj, Chair and Gjorche Petrov before holding a rally at the municipality of Gazi Baba. The presidential candidate of VMRO-DPMNE, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova will present the program to her supporters in Krivogashtani, Krushevo and Prilep.

Maksim Dimitrievski, the presidential candidate of the ZNAM Movement – For Our Macedonia, will present the program to his supporters at three locations in downtown Skopje before holding a rally in Gostivar later in the day. 

Pendarovski, who is running for re-election, at meetings with the citizens on Sunday in Kratovo and Staro Nagorichane accused the opposition party VMRO-DPMNE and its candidate Gordana Siljanovska Davkova of having no plan what to do with the EU integration process. He told a rally in Kriva Palanka that the country would continue on its path to European accession if elected president again. 

Speaking at a rally in Kumanovo, Pendarovski said he would remain the same as president in his new mandate. "If we mobilize on April 24 I assure you that the execution will come on May 8. Let's go out in masses on April 24 and win the match two weeks later," noted Pendarovski.

At Sunday’s rally in Kisela Voda, held after visiting the Skopje municipalities of Petrovec and Centar, VMRO-DPMNE candidate Siljanovska Davkova vowed to represent everyone in the country, regardless of one’s ethnic, religious, social or party affiliation, if elected president. 

Siljanovska Davkova said the president's legitimacy comes from the citizens and that is the best solution for democracy. She reiterated her opposition to the president's election in the Parliament, while noting that the country wants to be part of the European family, where it belongs historically, geographically and culturally, but only if its diversity is respected, as are the diversities of all Union members and candidates.

Biljana Vankovska, presidential candidate backed by the party Levica, told her supporters Sunday at a rally in Kavadarci that she believed in her winning the elections because she had program, idea and ideology.

“We’re not Albanophobic. I want to be the president of all citizens. No more divisions. All our children have left because they don’t want to live here,” she said.  

The presidential candidate of the European Front, Bujar Osmani at meetings with citizens Sunday in the region of Krivogashtani and Dolneni said the country was faced with a major dilemma in these elections - integration or isolation, coexistence or ethnic tensions, progress or regression.

"Unfortunately, these are the two offers and I am pleased, on behalf of the European Front, to offer integration in five years, coexistence among ethnic communities, justice and equality, and an opportunity for every citizen to achieve his dream, regardless of the family he comes from, ethnicity, social group, village or city. Every child can dream and make that dream a reality, whereas the state must help not create obstacles," said Osmani.

The rally of Worth It coalition that was set to take place in Gostivar on Sunday evening was postponed after a traffic accident in which a young man from Gostivar was killed. 

Photo: MIA archive