Skopje, 17 October 2025 (MIA) – Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski told an interview Friday he believes VMRO-DPMNE and its coalition led a dignified campaign in which they conveyed meaningful messages to the citizens, with a clear vision for governing the country and municipalities. He expressed optimism about the outcome of the upcoming elections, noting he expects a first-round victory in several municipalities, including Skopje.

“I believe that we, as VMRO-DPMNE and its coalition, ran a dignified campaign in which we sent meaningful messages explaining how we plan to govern both the country and the municipalities. A campaign where we presented our program, and I believe we generally presented ourselves well before the citizens,” Mickoski said in an interview with Sitel TV.

Mickoski said he expects VMRO-DPMNE to win between 45 and 50 mayoral posts.

“We will of course have more votes than we did in 2021 for our council lists. I expect a figure of around 350.000 for the council lists and between 370.000 and 400.000 for our mayoral candidates. I expect that we will win 45 to 50 mayoral posts,” Mickoski said.

The VMRO-DPMNE leader also said he is convinced the party’s candidate for Skopje Mayor, Orce Gjorgjievski, can clinch the post in the first round.

“I expect the job to be finished in the first round. According to the latest polls that we are carrying out on a daily basis, I believe that we are very close to crossing that threshold,” Mickoski said.

On claims that the results of the local elections will lead to early parliamentary elections, Mickoski said such interpretations are “a shallow political message”.

He urged the citizens to show up to the polls in large numbers on Sunday and vote, because, he said, if they don’t, someone else will profit. The PM also called on the citizens to vote for “political parties who can change things” and not for “smaller parties,” which, he said, “are practically a small group that profit off of the citizens’ votes”.

Photo: VMRO-DPMNE