English
Levica refused to endorse the VMRO mayoral candidate in the hotly contested race in Kicevo. Doctor Aleksandar Jovanovski is running against former Albanian guerrilla commander Fatmir Dehari, who is the incumbent Mayor of the ethnically divided city.
Amar Mecinovic, Levica’s surprise candidate who reached the second round of the Skopje mayoral race, was asked whether the party, that often pushes a populist-nationalist line, will endorse the Macedonian candidate against Dehari. But Mecinovic, who is himself a Bosniak, refused to answer directly.
My position as spokesman for Levica is somewhat on pause now. It’s not that we don’t have a position on this issue, we do, but it is not the time or the place for me to discuss it now. Our big task ahead of us is the second round of the Skopje mayoral elections, Mecinovic said.
Levica ran candidates in Struga, Tetovo and Gostivar – majority Albanian cities where VMRO did not field candidates. VMRO was hoping to focus most of the Macedonian votes toward the VLEN candidates in these cities, expecting that this will do most to weaken DUI. On the surface, Levica’s move looked set to give the ethnic Macedonian voters in Tetovo, Gostivar and Struga a Macedonian candidate they can vote for, and by this logic, electing an ethnic Macedonian in Kicevo should be a cause Levica would get behind. But VMRO accused Levica of coordinating its moves with DUI because its decision to run lost cause candidates in these three majority Albanian cities would only split the Macedonian vote and help DUI avoid defeat in its race against VLEN. The refusal to endorse doctor Jovanovski against Dehari could be more proof of Levica coordinating with DUI, possibly in exchange for DUI’s support for Mecinovic in Skopje.
