Skopje, 27 December 2021 (MIA) – SDSM’s Central Board late Monday evening elected Stefan Bogoev, Fatmir Bytyqi, Bisera Kostadinovska Stojchevska and Pero Kostadinov as new vice-presidents of the party, while Mile Zechevikj was appointed secretary general. “When choosing new vice-presidents, I wanted them to be a team of experienced people, renowned party members, as well as young people who recently gained the experience to take over such duties,” SDSM leader Dimitar Kovachevski told a press conference after the session. Vangel Andreski has been elected organizational secretary, while Bojan Marichikj international policy secretary. Sanja Lukarevska remains SDSM vice-president. The following have been appointed as members of the party’s Executive Board: Ana Daneva-Markova, Mishko Ralev, Nina Fiti-Nedelkovska, Snezhana Zaharieva, Daniela Koleva, Milena Stefanovikj, Kostadin Kostadinov, Renata Jajovska, Melisa Cenovska, Petre Shilegov, Dritan Ismaili, Tanja Tomikj, Darko Kaevski, Andrej Petrov, Ivona Kuzmanovikj, Kostadin Acevski and Nikola Rilak. Kovachevski also announced during the news briefing the establishment of a council for policy creation and implementation, set to oversee party projects. The council will be helmed by Igor Ivanovski. Moreover, he said that the new government will be elected by 18 January at the latest. SDSM’s leader stressed that the new government will put focus on economy and health. Kovachevski also thanked the former party leadership and expressed hopes that they’ll remain members. “The first task of the new leadership is to form a government and commit to implementation of government programs and policies. I’m optimistic that the new SDSM-led government will be elected by the middle of next month, by January 18. It will focus on managing the energy crisis, the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic, as well as continuing the EU integration process and negotiations with neighboring Bulgaria. I believe that we can overcome all challenges by having a stable government whose term will end in 2024,” Kovachevski underlined.