Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski and Kumanovo Mayor Maksim Dimitrievski were recorded during a meeting with citizens in Kumanovo promising them EU funds to pave streets if they vote for the SDSM – DUI candidate for President Stevo Pendarovski.

I appeal to you to give su your support. By staying at home and not voting, you will achieve nothing. It only gets worse. There are new options opening up, there are money in the budget, there are outside funds, we can access these sources, a voice sounding like that of Interior Minister Spasovski is heard saying during the meeting with potential voters.

Some of the participants in the meeting have recorded it and shared it with the Lider.mk news site, which published it today.

If we elect Stevo we will have good support from the Government. If VMRO comes back I will have to tell you that I’m sorry, I don’t have money to do it, Dimitrievski added, conditioning international support with votes for the SDSM – DUI candidate.

Abuse of public funds to buy votes by proimising construction of necessary infrastructure is rampant in Macedonia, and one of the main promises the SDSM – DUI coalition makes ahead of the elections is that it will provide funds from the European Union for local development. Pendarovski himself promised that if Macedonia persists in using the imposed new name it will receive 900 million EUR in EU funding each year.