The Levica party issued a response to Zoran Zaev’s comment in the Parliament yesterday, when Zaev raised a hypothetical question that “maybe Levica asked for his help in the past elections”.

Levica won surprising two seats in the Parliament in the chaotic July 15 elections using a mix of leftist and nationalist policies, and strong opposition to Zaev’s concessions on national identity issues to Greece and Bulgaria. Its leader Dimitar Apasiev often faces questions about who funds the party, and Zaev’s point was that “perhaps” he funded Levica, expecting that it will take votes away from VMRO-DPMNE. Zaev’s comment was possibly meant to poison the waters between VMRO and Levica, as the two parties have coordinated in Parliament on several issues.

As a party we need to respond to the claim, raised in the form of a question, about whether Zaev provided us with resources so we can take VMRO-DPMNE votes. We point that Zaev’s comments were in a sarcastic form, and he was responding to Apasiev’s question if it’s true that he was offering bribes to members of Parliament of 300,000 EUR. We point that we had no contact with SDSM or with Zaev prior to the elections, and any kind of an arrangement would be out of the question. All our contacts after the elections were in the Parliament, in professional communication, as we have done with other parties, Levica said in its press release.