Skopje, 16 April 2024 (MIA) - ZNAM Movement presidential candidate Makism Dimitrievski challenged his opponents Stevo Pendarovski and Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova to a televised debate so that citizens could then cast an informed vote.  

According to Dimitrievski, all the candidates should commit to taking part in a TV debate, especially "those from the Macedonian and the Albanian blocs who are most favoured in the media space".

Dimitrievski, who had meetings with citizens at the Green Market in downtown Skopje on Tuesday, said presidential candidates from smaller parties and other entities are almost invisible to the public, adding that not all candidates are equally represented in the campaign. 

"I urge all my opponents, particularly the two most favoured from the Macedonian political bloc and from the Albanian political bloc, not to avoid a debate, but to give citizens the opportunity to hear the plans and visions of all of us, what we intend to do if elected president. I call on my opponent, Stevo Pendarovski, to appear in a televised debate with me and face off his facts and arguments. I also call Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova to a face-off with me and the other opponents. Otherwise, I'll take it that they are avoiding a public debate because they have nothing to offer the citizens. In addition to party members, other citizens also live in this country, and they too have the right to hear what a future president plans to achieve," Dimitrievski pointed out. 

He added that citizens do not deserve "a non-transparent, selective and targeted campaign such as the one currently ongoing".

"It is impermissible for the presidential candidates who are the most favoured in the media space to avoid public debate. I have the feeling that this targeted campaign is being conducted only for two candidates who are favoured on every basis, and it would be good for democracy and for Macedonia as a whole, for the citizens to get the opportunity to see and hear us all under equal terms. We, as representatives of citizens with a civil initiative or representatives of small political entities, are almost invisible in the media space, while the other candidates are on the media all the time. We are not equal," said Dimitrievski. 

Photo: MIA