Skopje, 16 October 2025 (MIA) – SDSM leader Venko Filipche told an interview with Sitel TV on Thursday evening that the party is leading a fair and honest campaign, despite VMRO-DPMNE’s claims. According to Filipche, the ruling party has no projects to boast about which is why it is throwing accusations, proof of that, he said, are the projects from the campaign ads from four years ago which are yet to be realized.

“I understand the accusations and believe this is part of the campaign where, in fact, we have a duty to the citizens, to show them what VMRO-DPMNE said ahead of last year’s elections, and what has actually been fulfilled... That is our responsibility. And as you can see in all those promotional clips, we don’t say anything, they are the ones speaking. These are their promises, nearly 100 percent of which have not been fulfilled. Sorry, but it’s our duty to inform the public about that. This is by no means a smear campaign,” Filipche said.

The leader of SDSM stressed the party had no hidden intentions in the campaign, reiterating that they had a duty to speak the truth to the citizens.

“It’s understandable that when the government has nothing to boast about, no serious projects, not a single category of citizens who are satisfied or who have seen any benefit from the government’s work over the past year and a half, not pensioners, not workers, not doctors, not teachers, not farmers, then all that remains is to focus on the opposition,” Filipche told Sitel TV.

The leader of the main opposition party said he believes the positive and sincere approach, as well as the quality of SDSM’s mayoral and councilor candidates across the municipalities, has been recognized. As a result, he said, he believes that on election day, the citizens “will make the right choice that will bring progress to the country”.

“I think we ran a fairly honest, and sincere campaign, gathering a large number of citizens. I believe they will recognize our positive, sincere approach, and the qualities of our candidates for mayors and councilors. The best poll will be on Sunday, October 19,” Filipche said.

Filipche called on the citizens to show up to the polls and vote, to decide how their municipalities will develop, noting that people have already felt what a poor choice means – referring to the Skopje Mayor and other VMRO-DPMNE mayors who, he said, fulfilled only 30 percent of their promised programs.

Photo: SDSM