Skopje, 18 January 2024 (MIA) — SDSM will run on its own election platform detailing its past and future activities; any new political party founded on democratic values is to be welcomed in the spirit of pluralism, Minister of Defense and member of ruling SDSM's central committee Slavjanka Petrovska said Thursday in response to a reporter's question if she saw Nova Alternativa and its new leader Danela Arsovska as a threat to SDSM at the upcoming elections.

"Any political party being established in the Republic of North Macedonia, the foundations of which are based on democratic values we all share, is to be welcomed," Defense Minister Petrovska said.

"Forming new political parties is in fact a feature of pluralism. As for whether SDSM is afraid of any political party siphoning votes from us, I think there is enough room in our campaign ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections to discuss what we have done so far, to remind citizens of the important things. What is also important is to offer a concept, an election platform we will run under as well as what we will do in the future government," Petrovska said when asked whether SDSM was afraid of losing votes after Arsovska announced that Nova Alternativa would leave the SDSM coalition.

Asked to comment on SDSM's general secretary Mile Zechevikj's presence at the Nova Alternativa convention where Arsovska was promoted as the new party leader, Petrovska said he had attended the event out of political courtesy.

"It is the party's decision," Petrovska said. "If the party received an invitation, any party representative ought to honor the establishment of a political party if its founding principles are, of course, democratic and shared: the country's European values and its progress."

She said a SDSM representative's attending the convention did not necessarily hint at a potential future cooperation or coalition. "It is simply a part of political courtesy," Petrovska said. mr/