English
In a televised debate, Skopje mayoral candidate Orce Gjorgjievski repeated his promise that he will clean up the city in 72 hours, after weeks of deliberate sabotage by the city’s garbage removal company. Gjorgjievski, who won over 90,000 votes in the first round, debated Levica candidate Amar Mecinovic, who surprisingly got into the second round with about 30,000 votes.
During the debate, Gjorgjievski said that his pledge is realistic, and can be accomplished with the help of private companies that want to help the city out.
The two candidates clashed over their biographies, with the left wing populist Mecinovic accusing Gjorgjievski over the fact that his father was member of Parliament. Gjorgjievski responded with a report that Mecinovic’s father has built a house on publicly owned land without a license, even though Mecinovic’s party is making a big issue out of illegal construction in the capital. Mecinovic (29) was also accused over his lack of experience in managing public institutions, as opposed to Gjorgjievski, who is an effective Mayor of Kisela Voda – one of the larger municipalities in Skopje.
Gjorgjievski also accused Levica of siding with DUI in the local elections, after the party tried to split the Macedonian vote in the majority Albanian cities in the western parts of the country, which VMRO wanted to steer toward the VLEN party. Gjorgjievski is expected to win some support from VLEN in the second round, while Mecinovic wants to make up the large deficit in votes by appealing to DUI and the SDSM party.
