Skopje, 1 May 2024 (MIA) – Levica expects to double the result achieved in the first round of the presidential elections and win between 80,000 to 120,000 votes in the parliamentary elections, projecting 8 to 12 MP seats depending on the turnout. The party’s message to the next PM-designate is that the Macedonian Platform for National Unity is the basis for negotiations. The more Levica MPs, the greater the guarantee that Bulgarians will not be included in the Constitution, party leader Dimitar Apasiev says in an interview with MIA.

As regards the results in the first round of the presidential elections, Apasiev says he personally expected 60,000 to 80,000 votes, but even with 41,000 votes Levica had passed the exam in terms of independently collecting 10,000 signatures without any coalitions, and run in the elections supporting an independent candidate.

In terms of the results, I expected between 60,000 and 80,000. We got 42,000. But now we are entering our main elections - the parliamentary ones, regarding which we practically have a trump card in hand, i.e. the two MPs, so those are the material implications. We accept them as such, we do not despair. On the contrary, we learn from the experience and now we are looking to win, to double this result, to practically win - our projection is between 80,000 and 120,000 votes, because statistically, parliamentary elections always have a higher turnout than presidential elections, and such turnout in this case amounts to about 100,000 votes in the polls and they are mostly pro-opposition votes. Hence, we expect to grow in the parliamentary elections, says Apasiev.

Apasiev points out that Levica is projecting 8 to 12 MP seats depending on the turnout. Looking at it that way, he adds, there cannot be a government without Levica, especially a pro-Macedonian government. Otherwise, there can be a government without Levica at any time. But that, he notes, would be a government of the two other platforms that Levica does not represent and does not even negotiate with – “the ‘Sofia’ and the ‘Tirana’ platforms, whereas we offer a Macedonian platform”.

And it will be the basis for negotiations with any PM-designate who would need Levica’s mandates, pushing forward with a Macedonian platform. It is made of five points, very simple, with the aim of ending the blackmails that we have been seeing for two decades since the Framework Agreement, which are blackmails of federalization, disintegration of the country and blackmails from the Albanian minority - you see what they are like, every election they are going bigger, and now they seek to remove the ‘20 percent’ wording, to introduce Albanian as a constitutional language, which means classic cantonization. Another thing is not electing a President in elections by secret ballot, but according to the Badinter principle in Parliament, Sela mentioned bicameral parliaments. So, those are the platforms and the people should finally decide on a platform. Three platforms are in play. We represent the Macedonian platform and we will see how far we will go, Apasiev points out.
 

According to Apasiev, Levica does not have to enter a Government and the party is not focused strictly on coming to power. He stresses that Levica has shown it can be useful for the Republic even as an opposition with two MPs. However, he notes, if the next PM-designate feels blackmailed by Worth It or DUI, and offers cooperation, this is Levica’s five-point Macedonian platform.

“With this platform, we finally draw the red lines and call on all Macedonian parties to unite behind this platform, because each coming PM-designate appears to be more lenient towards the Albanian minority. It is unacceptable because we are either building a modern secular state or we are going back to the 19th century. Hence, we offer this concept,” Apasiev told MIA.

Asked why is it that although the focus of Levica’s program is on labor rights, from the campaign so far the emphasis is more on populist measures, Apasiev says that such narrative is imposed in the media and the party must follow what is promoted in public.

“The most important topic in the public at the moment is Bulgarians in the Constitution, bicameral parliaments, chanting ‘UCK’ and such. We are seeing nationalism, national chauvinism, ethno-tribalism and hence, if you will, we are ready to fight in that arena too. Therefore, as leftists, socialists we do not run away from national issues while also treating the class issue,” says Apasiev.

Levica’s platform, according to Apasiev, is radical but realistic in many segments - it advocates reducing working hours from 8 to 6 hours, doubling maternity leave from 9 to 18 months and reducing retirement age by two years, i.e. women at 60, and men at 62. Also, he adds, Levica is the only one in favor of a progressive tax, which is practically the difference between leftists and rightists.

As regards how funds will be provided for such policies, Apasiev says it will be done through banking regulation and tax reforms – measures that are not new and that work where the country is aiming for, i.e. the European Union.

“So, through regulation of the banking sector, reduction of commissions and interest, you free up millions that will remain with the people. That is one reform. And the other one is the progressive tax reform, which is the one only we are advocating. That means the rich pay more taxes, the poor and the workers pay less taxes. We are the only ones that plan a corporate tax as well as a luxury tax,” Apasiev notes.

Asked where Levica would best help the country from a personnel standpoint, if given the opportunity, Apasiev says the Parliament Speaker is the most powerful post.

The Speaker’s post is currently the most powerful position in terms of personnel. I witnessed this during my term as MP. It is very powerful from a political or partisan viewpoint, and that is why it was a strategic mistake on the part of SDSM to give the post to DUI, and the result is what we are seeing now. Our thesis we had four years ago is finally coming to true: SDSM’s fall. You can see that the party has dropped under 200,000 votes for the first time on record, which had not happened to (former leaders) Shekerinska and Buchkovski, but it has to Kovachevski. Therefore, if you, as the biggest party, do not have the Speaker’s post, you have nothing. Hence the dangerous precedent by electing Talat Xhaferi to the post. If we go back to history, Gruevski never gave the Speaker’s post to another party because he knew it was a very powerful position. So yes, from a personnel standpoint, Levica wants the Speaker’s post, says Apasiev.

Regarding Levica’s guarantees that the constitutional changes will not materialize, he says they cannot be prevented with two lawmakers “but we can do this with 10-12 seats”.

“If we have a solid number of MPs, then the blackmails would be gone and if the PM-designate negotiates with us, then we will not accept such requirements and therefore the guarantees. So, the more leftist MPs in Parliament, the greater the guarantee that Bulgarians will not be included in the Constitution,” says Apasiev.

According to him, the employment balancer is a ‘cancer’ for the society and the merit system should finally be used as the criterion, especially in the public administration, so that people come to the forefront on the basis of their qualities. He also notes that the Framework Agreement was a peace treaty that was supposed to be temporary.

“Tell it to the workers during the transition that acquired rights are not lost. With the emergence of Levica, the Macedonian can no longer be inferior in his own country and we are here as political stakeholders to deliver this. This is not nationalism, because the national issue and the one of classes are mixed, which was shown by the founders of this country. These two struggles are intertwined and we lead them in parallel,” notes Apasiev.

On Levica’s announcements it would cancel all agreements that are harmful for the country and if there is a better solution, Apasiev says there is a sovereign solution and a legal solution, adding that in law, judgment is changed by judgment, law is changed by law, while s referendum decision is changed by a new decision.

“Let’s not forget that the Prespa Agreement is illegal according to the national constitutional law and international law. Why? First, it was signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, whereas the President is the only one who could sign it. Second, the law on its ratification is illegal because it was published in the Official Gazette without the President’s signature for the first time on record in independent Macedonia. Therefore, de jure, this law does not exist. Third, it was adopted following the perpetration of crimes. You can recall that eight VMRO-DPMNE MPs were pardoned for their crimes in order to vote for the agreement, and this goes against the Vienna Convention. Therefore, it is an invalid agreement, a non-existent agreement, and the biggest argument for this is that it did not pass the referendum test,” says Apasiev.

Regarding their slogan “Chance for the Youth, the Incorruptible in Parliament”, the Levica leader says they have already proved they are incorruptible and that the MP candidates they nominate are between the age of 30 and 40, urging young people to vote in masses and not hold back.

Aleksandar Atanasov

Translated by Nevenka Nikolikj and Ivan Kolekjevski

Photo: MIA

Video and editing: Andrej Brankovikj and Vladimir Rabasovikj