English
Doctor Andrej Petrov, a former top SDSM official, spoke about the new 12.05 initiative and stated that changes are badly needed in SDSM, noting that the opposition party commands only about 8% support in all polls and is cruising toward a political catastrophe. Petrov, Igor Ivanovski – Shema, Slavjanka Petrovska and other top SDSM officials are part of the initiative that called on SDSM leader Venko Filipce to resign.
What is our motive? We do not want—though the term might seem harsh—to be in a situation where people might say, ‘You are waiting like vultures for them to lose again,’ because a catastrophe is clearly going to happen; it is evident. In all polls, SDSM stands at 8% or 7%—somewhere around 100,000 votes; that is the current figure. So, anyone claiming otherwise is lying. And I am not the one saying this; the results of the last local elections confirm it. The situation is clear, Petrov said.
According to him, the opposition lacks a clear position on the important issues, which gave rise to the initiative to form the 12.05 platform. “The sooner change occurs, the better the chances for SDSM to recover; however, a sound SDSM leadership needs to rally a strong opposition around itself by engaging with everyone to find an alternative to the current government—because the ruling party is simply doing what it does. They are our political opponents; they pursue right-wing policies—as they always have—and their governance is a recurring replay of those same right-wing agendas. They do not deviate from them. Even looking at the region, their right-wing stances remain consistent. Look at the situation here, or in Slovenia and Croatia—in many countries, they implement roughly the same policies. We need to promote different policies rather than stepping into their waters—into their whirlpool—because the opposition could easily drown there; that is not the place to operate,” says Petrov.