Skopje, 29 September 2025 (MIA) - Strumica is one of the municipalities where we are favourites to win, says SDSM leader Venko Filipche.

"The citizens of Strumica and the surrounding area have witnessed what it means when a social-democrat leads the municipality for over 15 years, and know what working for the good of the city looks like. Strumica is one of the best-run cities in the country," Filipche told 360 Degrees.

Asked about his expectations from the local elections, Filipche said that VMRO-DPMNE will be unpleasantly surprised after the first round of voting on October 19 but after the runoff as well, "because they cannot fool the same number of people as they did at last year's parliamentary and presidential elections.

"We will fight to bring back SDSM votes through our authentic policies and sincere approach, an open and inclusive communication with citizens. I believe people will recognize these policies and we will fight for every vote," says Filipche.

According to him, VMRO-DPMNE's polls are falsely showing SDSM's low ratings, because the ruling party is panicking because of the drop in its numbers.

"They have lost over 100,000 votes compared to last year, which has never happened to a government in only one year. But this is not surprising because they have not managed anything properly. They neither have the human capacity nor the working habit to show for. They have not been solving citizens' problems but creating partisan institutions," says Filipche.

The SDSM leader says the party's slogan "Fighting for our home" interweaves all past policies starting from the Anti-Fascist Assembly for Macedonia's Liberation (ASNOM) up to the Euro-Atlantic integration process.

"It is a multilayered message that the battle is for every home, street, settlement, municipality. It is a motivating slogan and our members have embraced it. It conveys the message that our people have always fought when someone had tried to take away its freedom, silence it, rob it, something that the incumbent authorities are trying to do," says Filipche.

He adds they decided to optimise their capacities in the municipalities where the party has no chance of winning a mayoral seat, such as Tetovo, Struga and Chair, opting only for a list of council members, whereas decisions on potential support for mayors from other parties would be taken ahead of the November 2 runoff.

"There is currently no political coalition with any party or bloc of parties of ethnic Albanians," says Filipche.

Regardless of the outcome of the local elections, Filipche intends to remain on SDSM's helm, saying that he took over the party after a disastrous defeat at last year's presidential and parliamentary elections.

"My vision is long-term, for the period after the local elections, and involves strengthening of all opposition parties. Motivation is on the rise, considering that the country is getting stuck deeper and deeper," underlines Filipche.

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