Skopje, 28 February 2024 (MIA) - President Stevo Pendarovski is to be officially promoted as SDSM's candidate at the congress this Sunday, after the decision goes through the party's executive and central boards, says SDSM leader and former PM Dimitar Kovachevski.

"This evening, the party leadership will propose Stevo Pendarovski as presidential candidate at the meeting of the executive board, which will make the decision and then forward it to the central board. The party congress will take place on Sunday, March 3, when he will officially be promoted as SDSM's candidate," Kovachevski told Sitel.

On the number of expected MP seats, considering the unfavorable opinion polls, Kovachevski says opinion polls back in 2020 also had VMRO-DPMNE in the lead but the SDSM-led coalition eventually won the elections.

"I have learned over the past couple of years as SDSM leader and PM that the projections given by the VMRO-DPMNE leader (Hristijan Mickoski) are always wrong. For example, he and his party said the electricity price would rise by 40 percent during the biggest energy price after World War II but this did not happen. They said we would not start the EU accession talks but we did," says Kovachevski.

He adds that the SDSM-led coalition will win more MP seats than the opposition.

"I will be the next PM-designate and we will form the pro-European government that will lead the country into the EU in 2030," says Kovachevski.

The SDSM leader reiterated that the party does not support the President's election in Parliament, noting that the existing model of electing the head of state ensures that all ethnic communities, citizens and political parties express a clear opinion.

"We do not need to go a step backwards in democratic processes," says Kovachevski.

He expects the passport replacement process to be completed by September or October.

"The replacement of the personal documents arises from an international agreement ratified in the Parliament. If we adopt other laws that derogate the law ratifying an international treaty, then we are going into another problem. Therefore, I do not believe this issue should be used to blame others or punish citizens," says Kovachevski.

Photo: SDSM