English
DUI official Arbr Ademi held the first press conference of the evening for this party that faces a number of difficult races in the local elections despite its announcements that it will beat its chief rival VLEN.
According to Ademi, the party is dominant among the Albanians in the Kumanovo region and leads VLEN by about 20,000 votes. DUI is projected to lose in Skopje’s Cair, which would be a strong blow for its leader Ali Ahmeti and one of its top officials Bujar Osmani, who is running for the mayoral position. DUI is also well behind (by 5,000 votes) the VMRO candidate in Kicevo, which is a major stronghold for the party and includes Ahmeti’s native village of Zajas. Its candidate, former guerrilla commander Fatmir Dehari, was hit by a sexual abuse scandal ahead of the vote, and will likely face VMRO candidate doctor Aleksandar Jovanovski in the second round where VLEN is expected to support Jovanovski.
Ademi said that the party will also face a run-off in Struga, where one of its coalition partners, Ziadin Sela’s Alliance of Albanians, is nominating a candiate against an independent candidate supported by VLEN.
