The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry condemned the brutal pre-election campaign that Zoran Zaev and his SDSM party directed against the newly elected Mayor of Skopje Danela Arsovska. Faced with defeat in the local elections, Zaev announced that he will resign as Prime Minister if Arsovska beats his candidate Petre Silegov in the mayoral race. He then launched a campaign claiming that Arsovska has secretly obtained a Bulgarian dual citizenship, and brutally attacked her over this.

It is absolutely unacceptable that hate speech is used as instrument of internal political confrontation. The events of the past weeks and the aggressive rhetoric used in the mayoral campaign in Skopje are an illustration of the imposed atmosphere of hostility and intolerance toward the citizens with Bulgarian identity and toward the Republic of Bulgarian, the Foreign Ministry of Bulgaria said.

Arsovska vainly protested and denied Zaev’s allegations that she has obtained a Bulgarian citizenship, but this didn’t stop the Prime Minister and his supporters in the media for going on a frenzied attack over several days, including paid online ads and defacing Arsovska’s billboards. In the end, the campaign backfired and the voters elected Arsovska by a wide margin.