Right wing activist Filip Petrovski also announced a bid for the presidency, and called on the VMRO-DPMNE to support him. Petrovski, who was most recently head of National Archives, but has distanced from the current VMRO officials after his failed leadership bid, was organizing protests against the name change.

I call on VMRO-DPMNE to support my candidacy so we can defeat Zoran Zaev together, said Petrovski, in a joint press conference with another protest organizer Janko Bacev.

So far only stalwart VMRO official Vladimir Gjorcev has asked the party delegates to support his nomination, while professor Gordana Siljanovska – former critic of VMRO but also a critic of the name change, said she will consider whether to run for President. The opposition party is expected to allow prospective candidates to submit their nominations until Saturday.