Skopje, 24 September 2025 (MIA) - VMRO-DPMNE's mayoral candidate Orce Gjorgjievski will be the next Skopje mayor after winning the Oct. 18 election and he will clean up the city's trash in his first 72 hours in office, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said Wednesday, adding that "there will be responsibility and there will be a first and a last name."

Asked by the press if he felt responsible for Skopje's garbage not being picked up by the waste collection company Communal Hygiene, given that current Skopje Mayor Danela Arsovska had been endorsed by VMRO-DPMNE in the last local elections, Mickoski said he regretted supporting her independent candidacy.

"Do I feel responsible that I supported the then independent candidate? I've said this 10 times: Yes, I do, and I have apologized at least 10 times. Here, let me say it again: I apologize that I stood behind the independent candidate Danela Arsovska at the time," Mickoski said.

"We will not repeat this mistage again," he said. "This is why Orce Gjorgjievski will win the next election in the very first round and, as he himself vowed before Skopje residents, he will roll up his sleeves and clean up the city of Skopje's waste."

He recalled a situation when several of Skopje's municipal mayors had organized local sanitation services to collect municipal waste only to find the Drisla landfill locked by its management -- and then they received criminal summonses, as well.

"Forgive us. I am a responsible man, a prime minister, the leader of the largest political party and I cannot allow for mayors elected by the citizens to be sacrificed so that some people take their frustrations out on them," Mickoski said. mr/