Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski spent 26,000 EUR for promotion of his social media posts in the past 100 days, and hired three dozen PR team members to work on his public profile. The IRL investigative network reports that the team works in two shifts and, “instead of providing information that is useful to the citizens, focuses on idyllic and self-flattering ads and posts”.

With this large PR campaign, Kovacevski far surpassed his predecessor Zoran Zaev, who had 2,863 posts from 2016. In just one year, Kovacevski’s team had 782 posts and paid 4,000 EUR to invite Facebook users to subscribe to his page – with little effect.

The five most sponsored posts did not communicate a service or a Government policy, IRL writes, but included a Christmas message, the Prime Minister giving tablets to orphans, helping farmers unload tobacco and visiting the site of the long delayed Ohrid – Kicevo highway.