Skopje, 2 February 2025 (MIA) - SDSM leader Venko Filipche told Radio Free Europe in an interview SDSM wouldn’t form a coalition with DUI and denied holding talks with the party ahead of the local elections set to be held in October.

“We learned a very serious lesson from our coalition with DUI. A lot of things came back to haunt us, and we have to be honest and admit this. The distance is something that came naturally, as a request by the party membership, but also as a feeling and emotion towards a coalition that wasn’t principled,” Filipche told Radio Free Europe.

In the future, he said SDSM would only form “principled” coalitions, “founded on mutual respect and shared values”.

As part of the preparations for the local elections, VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski told journalists on Saturday the party would begin internal polling of potential candidates at the beginning of February.

“We still haven’t started the polling procedures. Until now, we had a procedure for the nomination of candidates within the party and within the coalition,” Mickoski said without revealing any potential candidates.

Mickoski said, he, as leader of the party, and the Executive Committee would retain the right to put forward candidates they think should be a part of the polling process, in addition to the list of candidates proposed by VMRO-DPMNE's municipal committees.

Photo: MIA Archive