Struga, 17 April 2024 (MIA) — GROM presidential candidate Stevcho Jakimovski in Struga on Wednesday said politicians should stop toying with Macedonians and shortchanging them, MIA's Struga correspondent reports.

Jakimovski said "the opposition VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski is lying to the people that he will support changing the Constitution only after we enter the European Union."

"SDSM is ready for an immediate betrayal and does not hide it, but the problem with VMRO-DPMNE is that they want to hide it from the people, lie to the people and betray them right after the parliamentary elections," Jakimovski said.

According to him, Macedonian voters should not vote for people ready to betray them by opening the Constitution and then changing it so the President is elected in Parliament "as a result of blackmail and political bargaining."

"Also by creating a Civil Constitution, which would erase the Macedonian nation from the only document it exists in, which is the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, and where practically all those demands of the Bulgarian state would be accepted: that we had been a nation only since 1944, that our language was Bulgarian, and that our historical figures were Bulgarians," Jakimovski said. 

"This is precisely why I think these parties should be punished in these elections. The citizens should make the right decision and support those who will protect our national interests, especially of the Macedonians in the Republic of Macedonia," Jakimovski said.

He also told Struga voters that he, if elected President, would help develop local tourism, the construction of five-star hotels and spa centers, and the construction of the Kichevo – Ohrid highway.

"Tito built the roads with a shovel and a digger and they were finished in three or four years through youth labor actions.

"This is really shameful – I don't know how they are asking voters in Struga, Ohrid, Kichevo, anywhere in the Republic of Macedonia to give them their trust. They have not been able to build a highway to Struga and Ohrid in ten years," Jakimovski said. mr/