The Mayor of Kumanovo Maksim Dimitrievski hit back at his SDSM party, after he was removed from its membership. Dimitrievski, who was openly critical of Zoran Zaev for most of his term in office, decided to launch an independent mayoral bid as it became clear that Zaev will remove him from the race in October with another, more loyal candidate.

I deeply regret that this decision was smuggled through, at midnight, by a group of individuals from my SDSM party. The decision to remove someone from membership is reached at the Executive Board and then confirmed at the Central Board. I have been informed that such meetings did no take place. So legally, I’m still a member of the SDSM party, Dimitrievski said.

He criticized Zaev over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which hit Kumanovo especially hard in mid 2020, and then extended his criticism toward Zaev’s constant concessions with the Macedonian national identity. The Kumanovo party wing led by Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski nominated a new candidate, close to Spasovski, and which prompted Dimitrievski to announce his independent run. This creates an opening for VMRO-DPMNE to exploit the division in SDSM.