English
Tetovo Mayor Bilal Kasami (VLEN) came out against the candidacy of Kicevo Mayor Fatmir Dehari from DUI. Kasami initially endorsed Dehari, as a fellow ethnic Albanian, but after an angry reaction from Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, the Tetovo Mayor backtracked. Kasami and other VLEN candidates in ethnically mixed areas received significant support from VMRO voters in races against DUI candidates and his initial refusal to endorse the one VMRO candidate in a fight against DUI strained the coalition.
In an interview with Alsat, Kasami said that his comments, made for a Kosovo based TV station, were taken out of context. “Our opponetns were trying to fully play the ethnic card and my statement was wrongfully interpreted. What I want to explain with regard to my political positions, that were already explained by the VLEN coalition, is that we all know what moral values I represent. We also know that a candidate like Dehari is the weakest candidate DUI could nominate and that his rule in Kicevo did not bring any good to the citizens of Kicevo. Add to this the recordings of Dehari that are shared recently on the social media, and we can see that he, as a candidate, will only bring degeneracy to Kicevo, more destruction and nothing good. Despite the fact that we would endorse an Albanian candidate, a better candidate, we believe that we can’t stand behind the candidate that DUI nominated in order to lose the city, Kasami said.
Wiretaps released ahead of the elections showed Dehari sexually harassing a female employee in the municipality and cursing out his city while discussing suspicious financial transfers. Kasami added that his rule led to mass emigration from Kicevo and has harmed the city. “I can not support a candidate who harmed Kicevo and who pushed half the city to move outside of the country”.
His VLEN party today also issued a statement accusing DUI of colluding with Levica in the race in Tetovo, where Kasami faces DUI candidate Bajram Rexhepi. Officials from Rexhepi’s camp were seen meeting with Levica officials.
In his attempt to secure votes to save himself, Bajram Rexhepi sat down with a party that insults everything Albanian. This is the true face of the DUI patriots, who embrace Levica for a sliver of power, said VLEN in a statement. Levica often takes nationalist – populist positions and has taken Russia’s side in the war in Ukraine and opposes Macedonia’s NATO membership, which is seen very poorly in the Albanian political camp.
Levica won over 3,000 votes in Tetovo using the fact that VMRO did not field a candidate in an attempt to focus the Macedonian votes toward Kasami against Rexhepi. Levica had about 1,350 votes in the lists for the city council and VMRO had 4,200 votes on its Council list, meaning that some VMRO voters did not support Kasami and opted for the ethnic Macedonian Levica candidate. It remains to be seen how will the Macedonian vote break in the second round when there are only two ethnic Albanian candidates in the race. VMRO is expected to support Kasami, after his eventual endorsement of the VMRO candidate in Kicevo.
