Venko Filipche outlines vision for North Macedonia after SDSM election win

Venko Filipche has been officially elected president of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) in the party's direct presidential vote, in which he was the sole candidate on the ballot, CE Report quotes MIA.

"SDSM will put the country back on the winning path, for the good of Macedonia, for the good of all citizens. This is a joint victory of all members of the Social Democratic Union who sincerely believe in the values ​​of the Social Democrats - fairness, progress and equality," Filipche told a press conference after his election as party leader was officially announced.

Out of a total of 23,712 members on the party's voter list, Filipche got 18,001 votes, while 139 ballots were invalid, the president of the Central Election Commission, Branko Georgievski, said previously.

"The fact that I won twice as many votes as last time is just proof that our intensive work gives results. This is proof that the election process was not only technically organized, but our members sincerely believe in the correctness of the policies that we have been pursuing in the past period, and we will continue to do so. We will communicate with everyone openly and honestly, everyone's voice will be heard, everyone's idea will be analysed well, and if it is good, it will be incorporated into our policies," said Filipche.

He noted that the task ahead for the party is difficult, given that preparations are beginning for the local elections.

"We will choose the people who will best represent us in the local elections, people who have the credibility to come out in their communities, in front of their neighbours, in front of friends and acquaintances in their municipalities, people who can be trusted to fulfil the policies and programs they promise to fulfil. We will have a difficult job because we will be standing against the political opponent VMRO-DPMNE in many municipalities. Unfortunately, their mayors do not deliver good policies, we see more and more corruption scandals, they do not head the municipalities properly," Filipche said.

According to him, that is best seen in the example of the City of Skopje, which has neither public transportation nor clean streets nor a single project for the good of the citizens, all due to the stubbornness and business interests of the mayor and VMRO-DPMNE, he noted adding that Skopje must become a metropolis again.

"We have yet another difficult fight ahead of us - and that is to fight against the government of VMRO-DPMNE, ZNAM and 'Worth It', which has only shown over the past ten months that it can neither deal with the problems nor it knows how to deal with them, that everything they said was a lie, they did not deliver on a single promise, the country has never had a more incompetent government before," Filipche said.

That is why, he added, we have an obligation to the citizens to show that we are prepared and motivated, that we know, we are able to, and we will fight for the good of the country, and we will put it back on the European path.

"We will not allow citizens to be manipulated. There is not a single area in which anything good is happening. Look at what is happening and what catastrophic policies are being pursued in agriculture, education, healthcare. Look at what is happening with the wages of workers. They were trying to convince workers that it is possible to live by EUR 400 a month, what hypocrites are sitting in the government - hence I clearly tell them that SDSM is strong, ready and consolidated and is getting back on the winning path. We will be the ones who will put the country back on the winning path," Filipche pointed out.

The party's presidential vote was previously scheduled for March 16. It was postponed over the Kochani tragedy.

Filipche was elected leader last June in a snap election SDSM held after Dimitar Kovachevski resigned over the party's historically worst parliamentary and presidential election results.

Filipche will serve a four-year term as SDSM president.