Karpos Mayor Stevco Jakimovski denounced the United States, after he was put on a black list for his corrupt activities. Jakimovski and disgraced former Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva were put on the list that bans them and their immediate family members from entering the United States. While Janeva is no longer a political player, Jakimovski is currently having a long-shot presidential run in which he is trying to help SDSM by attacking VMRO-DPMNE from the right, and is also seen as close to DUI party linked real-estate developers who operate in his municipality.

This is an act of violence that constitutes direct interference in the electoral process, which is criminal act, Jakimovski said yesterday evening, denouncing the press release from the US Embassy and the State Department, and even pledging to file criminal charges against uknown US officials who decided to undermine his presidential campaign.

Jakimovski even tried to turn his blacklisting into something that could resonate with the voters, saying that he was critical of the US pressure on Macedonia to change its name, which meant that “we paid too high a price for our NATO membership”, “I’m the only non-Soros backed candidate” and comparing his persecution as the charges against Donald Trump, while describing the Biden family as the real criminals.

The State Electoral Commission informed that legally, Jakimovski will be allowed to continue his campaign. The US Embassy is supporting a proposed law that would ban politicians who have been placed on the US black list from holding office. The first draft of the law was withdrawn, and a new version is now before Parliament, but due to the pre-election period it’s unlikely to move ahead. Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski accused VMRO-DPMNE of delaying the adoption of the law, but VMRO representative Antonio Milososkii reminded him that there is nothing preventing the prosecutors from asking for evidence from the United States and launching an investigation into Jakimovski immediately.

VMRO-DPMNE also called on SDSM to clarify their relationship with the other notable addition to the black list – Katica Jaeva – whose politically driven charges helped bring SDSM to power after she took to court much of the last VMRO-DPMNE led Government.

Katica Janeva was the iron fist of SDS and DUI for political persecution of their opponents. Later, she turned into a racketeer and extortionist. The office of the Special Prosecutor – a project led by SDS – turned into a mockery and the biggest criminal scandal of our past three decades. SDS printed t-shirts with Katica Janeva, only for her to end up on a US black list, VMRO-DPMNE said in a statement.

The opposition party also labeled Jakimovski as an unofficial political partner of SDSM, which used Jakimovski’s corruption scandals to blackmail him into being politically active against VMRO-DPMNE.