Bitola, 22 April 2024 (MIA) - SDSM’s presidential candidate Stevo Pendarovski concluded his campaign Monday evening with a rally in Bitola ahead of the first round of voting on Wednesday.

He urged the people of Bitola to make a distinction between what SDSM offers versus what VMRO-DPMNE offers because, he stated, voting for the opposition party is a step backward instead of moving forward towards EU integration.

"Despite our size, we are now on equal footing and at the same table with the US, France, Canada, Germany..., because we had a brave political leadership that didn't care about their rating or the next mandate but about the security of the state for the next decades," Pendarovski, noted, referring to the country's NATO membership.

"For the European Union integration," as he stated, "a historic step has been taken because after 17 years, we have opened negotiations. But unfortunately," he said, "the main opposition party has obstructed it, 'which has not positively participated in any state-building act since 1991.'"

He said of his opponent from VMRO-DPMNE that she offers to annul all agreements "that did not anchor us in the international order as a subject, not as an object of political bargaining."

Instead, Pendarovski said, the focus should be on the economy, raising standards, and fighting corruption.

According to him, nullifying agreements and the opposition's intention to renegotiate would result in losing another 20 or 30 years.

“It's the same in that party; their offer is absolutely identical to what it was five and 15 years ago – from political to personnel, only one person is missing, only Gruevski is missing. Everyone else is those who were there from 2006 to 2016 when they lived off the back of the Macedonian people and when there were two categories of citizens – members of VMRO-DPMNE and all others. That's why we need mobilization to show that we don't want to return to the regime where one person dictated the fate of all,” Pendarovski stated.

In the past five years as president, he said, he hasn't been flawless, but the mistakes were individual issues and not systemic. The future wasn't jeopardized, and the survival of the state wasn't questioned "as it was in their time" when, he said, the most important thing was tender negotiations, "and the money still can't be recovered today."

He announced that if he wins a second term to lead the country, he will immediately initiate a comprehensive vetting process, examining the assets of all politicians, judges, and prosecutors, not only from the past five years but from 1990 until today.

He also stressed that he will continue to work in the interest of all citizens of the country and will not discriminate people based on their ethnic, religious, or party affiliation, nor their social status.

Photo: MIA archive