Bitola, 14 October 2025 (MIA) – SDSM is coming back with a clear vision, with deep self-awareness and with greater responsibility, said the party’s leader, Venko Filipche, at a rally in Bitola on Tuesday evening.

Presenting the party’s mayoral candidate for the city, Metodija Kunovski, Filipche said the citizens of Bitola have never remained silent when their values were attacked. “Bitola has never been a silent observer, but a driver of change,” he stressed.

“VMRO-DPMNE is not solving people’s issues, it is ignoring them instead. This government is trampling on solidarity, humaneness, democracy, progress, and fairness. The citizens of Bitola have never remained silent when their values were attacked. Bitola has never been a silent observer, but a driver of change, that’s why from here I am sending a clear message that will be heard across all of Macedonia – SDSM is coming back, it is coming back with a clear vision, with deep self-awareness and with greater responsibility. It is coming back with work, with honest promises, and with people who know what it means to be on the side of the citizens. People that will serve, and not rule,” the SDSM leader said.

At the rally, Filipche called for a massive turnout on election day “to restore Bitola on the path of progress and Macedonia in the hands of the people”. 

“Bitola has been sidelined. A city known for its culture, its history, its urban spirit, is now suffocating in stagnation and neglect due to VMRO-DPMNE’s inability to govern. Projects are stalled, streets are deteriorating, and young people are leaving. There is no vision, there is no strategy, there is not even basic accountability. Enough is enough, it is time for a politics that delivers results and not excuses. It is time for people who fight for others, and not for themselves. That’s why we need to fight for a Bitola that will grow and develop, for a Macedonia that will move forward,” Filipche said in Bitola.

Photo: MIA