The campaign office of Kumanovo Mayor Maksim Dimitrievski informed that one of its candidates for the Kumanovo council was attacked by a candidate from the rival SDSM party. Dimitrievski launched an independent mayoral run after his former SDSM party refused to nominate him for re-election, and after the successful first round showing, he now faces over police pressure.

In this latest incident, Dimitrievski’s supporter Redzep Redzepovski was attacked by Samet Salievski, who is a Council member from SDSM, Salievski’s father.

We reported this incident to the Interior Ministry. We call on Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski to immediately stop his interference in the electoral campaign and to protect all citizens. The intimidation of our activists must stop, Dimitrievski’s office said.

Dimitrievski and his SDSM challenger Oliver Ilievski face a narrow race for Mayor on October 31st. On Tuesday, a police patrol stopped and briefly held Dimitrievski for a banal traffic violation (driving a car with tinted windows) and SDSM is pushing daily reports about his alleged abuse of office.