VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski expressed gratitude to the voters for the huge victory they gave to the party’s presidential candidate Gordana Siljanovska – Davkova in the first round of the elections against Stevo Pendarovski. Mickoski announced that he already spoke with one of the defeated candidates, Arben Taravari, who ranked fifth, and whose support could make Pendarovski’s slim theoretical chances to make a comeback in the second round with the help of the Albanian voters beyond the realm of possibility.

It is bad when you underestimate a man. We proved that Macedonia will be here for a very long time. They kept attacking us, from the outside and from within, they threatened us, they tried to partition Macedonia, they used old structures from within the party, but we endured, said Mickoski as a large crowd continues to gather in front of the party office to celebrate.

Mickoski pointed out that this is the biggest victory the party won when contesting an election from the opposition. It comes on the back of the major VMRO victory in the 2021 local elections, and spells doom for SDSM in the coming general elections. It is widely expected that the first round of presidential elections will provide a boost to the winning party for the general elections, and VMRO could not expect a bigger boost.

The tsunami is rising and is over their heads. We will give them their red card on May 8th. At the same time, I must acknowledge my concern about the situation in the country. We are aware that the people will ask for results immediately. We have our work cut out, Mickoski added.

He assured SDSM supporters that they will not face retribution after the general elections – provided they didn’t violate the law. “Those who have, they will be held responsible”, Mickoski said.