Valandovo, 7 October 2025 (MIA) — VMRO-DPMNE's smear campaign against SDSM based on fabricated scandals has fallen apart bit by bit, beginning with the hybrid attacks, drones, and now some kind of sticks, SDSM leader Venko Filipche told a campaign rally in Valandovo, where the party's candidate for mayor, Pero Kostadinov, presented his local election platform.

According to Filipche, SDSM would not sink "into the mud" where VMRO-DPMNE "felt comfortable" but would "continue to expose the fake and hypocritical government" instead. 

"And we will talk even more about the citizens' real, everyday problems," he said, adding that his party was fighting for a minimum wage of 500 euros, for higher pensions, and for European living standards. 

When SDSM was in power, Filipche said, the minimum wage had risen from 9,000 denars to 22,500 denars and the average pay had gone up from 22,000 to over 40,000 denars in seven years. 

He also said his party had increased welfare benefits by 300% and subsidized the power bills of 660,000 households.

"On Oct. 19, we will choose whether to defend the house we have been building for years or allow these people who are in power to demolish it," Filipche said, urging voters to vote for SDSM.

Pero Kostadinov, who is running for second term in office as Valandovo mayor, promised locals a new sports stadium, a large city park, a public swimming pool, more parking spaces, a new public library as well as better communal waste services, including a new program of community-wide collection and processing of recyclables. mr/