Gostivar, 15 October 2025 (MIA) – SDSM leader Venko Filipche told Wednesday a campaign rally in Gostivar the upcoming elections are exceptionally important for the future of the citizens and the country’s progress, adding that the country’s strength lies in unity, not division.

“This is the moment when every vote makes a difference. That’s why I believe there is no vote that is not important. This is not a time for silence, it is a time to stand up. Abstention is not a punishment for SDSM, it is a reward for VMRO. Every lost vote is a gain for the regime we are feeling once again. Let’s use these days to talk to our neighbors, relatives, visit every neighborhood, mobilize, and call for unity. Now is not the time to give up the fight for our home. This is a moment of return, of unity, of a new beginning,” Filipche said.

The opposition leader said Gostivar knows the country’s strength lies in unity and not in division. “That is why Gostivar is a symbol of coexistence, respect, and dignity, and it is precisely here that the renewal of the systemically destroyed values will begin”.

Filipche sharply criticized the government’s policies and accused it of deliberately dividing the people in order to conceal its own incompetence.

“Those in power today are trying to divide us with lies, with division, with nationalism meant to hide their own incompetence. Their policy is a policy of divisions, of destabilization, of insults. A policy that always ends with tensions in society,” Filipche said.

The SDSM leader said VMRO-DPMNE has forgotten the most important lesson of history – that unity is the country’s strength.

Filipche also said the budget deficit is deepening, public debt is increasing, and citizens are becoming poorer. He added that while the government piles up new debts, the people are sinking into poverty, wages are stagnating, and there are no measures to support the citizens.

He stressed that SDSM has always been on the side of the citizens, adopting measures to support them during the biggest crises faced by the country.

At the rally in Gostivar, the opposition party promoted its list of candidates for council members in the municipal council. SDSM does not have a candidate in the town's mayoral race.

Photo: MIA