Skopje, 21 April 2024 (MIA) — Hristijan Mickoski and Gordana Siljanovska lie to the people repeating every day they will not change the Constitution "under Bulgarian dictation," yet in front of foreign diplomats they express a formal readiness to lift their blockade, President Stevo Pendarovski said at a reelection rally in Skopje.

"A senior representative of their sister party from Germany, after talking to them, said he was convinced they would vote for constitutional changes, and they continue repeating every day there will be no constitutional changes under Bulgarian dictation," Pendarovski said.

Speaking about VMRO-DPMNE, Pendarovski said they were recycling the same political ideas that had let the country sink into isolation and state capture, with a government that framed political processes and put political prisoners and journalists behind bars.

"Let's be honest," Pendarovski said. "Does any of us who remember the regime have any reason to hope for a different behavior from the party that organized a violent storming of Parliament? And seven years since, not only has it not apologized to the victims and to the entire nation for that shameful act, but it is announcing amnesty for the thugs who were ready to kill only for their political mentors to stay in power."

Pendarovski asked if the opposition offered anything in their election campaign platform to ensure a stable and prosperous state in terms of Euro-Atlantic integrations and interethnic relations. He also said its presidential candidate had changed their stance on NATO.

"We personally heard from their presidential candidate that NATO integration was important for the stability of the country, yet the same person four years ago was demanding criminal responsibility for the signatories of the Prespa Agreement," Pendarovski said.

He said her harsh personal insults directed at the supporters of the agreement had not been forgotten. "To make the paradox even greater, senior representatives of this opposition party believed their own propaganda and two years after the adoption of the negotiating framework, they still do not know what it says: Namely, that the entire European legislation will be translated into the Macedonian language, and Macedonian will be one of the official languages in the organization when we become a member," he said, also recalling that the country had signed the agreement with EU's Frontex agency in Macedonian.

Pendarovski also spoke about interethnic relations, noting that now they were the most stable since the country's independence. The reason for this, he said, was that SDSM and the coalition were aware that in addition to Euro-Atlantic integration, coexistence was key the country's progress.

But the opposition did not consider this at all, he said. "Before every election, as a rule, they demand 61 MPs so that Albanians allegedly don't put any conditions on them. And the other day they called for an all-Macedonian patriotic front, just like during the regime, not taking into account that ethnic homogenization in a multi-ethnic state like ours is a recipe for destabilization," Pendarovski said.

He said he was looking forward to an election victory on May 8 and added that the opposition polls were fake. "I know their fake polls. I also know the real polls. And I can realistically tell you we are winning on May 8. By circling number 1, we continue toward Europe and the developed world and we are definitely not going back to a regime and state capture," Pendarovski said, encouraging voters to go to the polls on April 24 and May 8 so that the regime does not come back, he reiterated. mr/

Видео: Изборен штаб на Пендаровски