English
Divisions in SDSM are growing with a new round of accusations exchanged between the team around party leader Venko Filipce and his critics who are grouping around former top party official Igor Ivanovski – Shema. SDSM today issued a statement accusing Ivanovski of trying to split the party in favor of the Government.
Ivanovski publicly admitted that he is not organizing some talks about the future of Macedonia but he is simply trying to topple SDSM from within. It is clear that his intent is to create a new version of the ZNAM party, and use it in favor of VMRO, said SDSM in a statement.
In a Sitel TV interview Ivanovski, who was a close associate of former SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski, said that it is clear that current leader Filipce is clearly unable to lead the party forward. Ivanovski speculated that Filipce is acting as a fake opposition leader and self-sabotaging the party, in exchange for more lenient approach toward him and his mentor Zoran Zaev, over their numerous corruption scandals.
SDSM member of Parliament and former Defense Minister Slavjanka Petrovska, who joined Ivanovski in a recent round table event that was seen as challenge by Filipce, said that her actions are meant to help SDSM.
In 2024 I ran for SDSM leader and I proposed a platform. I withdrew from the race because of violations of the party rules, but I continued to support the leadership, not to be seen to be obstructing it. But things did not change for the better. At the latest congress I clearly said that we must change outselves or we will vanish. I proposed that we conduct a vetting of our members of Parliament and the party leadership, but there was no response, and I also proposed that we change the statute and give more decision making power to the party members, but I was ignored. My participation in the discussion for Macedonia was not against SDSM but in favor of SDSM, said Petrovska.
SDSM accused Petrovska and Ivanovski (who along with his associate Andrej Petrov helped write the SDSM program for the 2024 elections) of being the main culprits for the party’s disastrous defeat – in an attempt to lay the blame for the dismal position of SDSM on the group that demands accountability from Filipce.