VMRO-DPMNE president Hristijan Mickoski met today with Arben Taravari, the Mayor of Gostivar who was presidential candidate of the opposition Albanian bloc VLEN.

The meeting took place in Skopje, at the VLEN party office. It comes days before the crucial general elections and the second round of the presidential elections. VLEN still hasn’t formally announced its support for the VMRO-DPMNE presidential candidate Gordana Siljanovska – Davkova, as VMRO called on them to do, but the meeting is a strong indicator that the VLEN votes will go toward Siljanovska, or that at least this large Albanian bloc won’t boycott the elections – as the DUI party could decide to do. VMRO has made it clear that they prefer VLEN as their coalition partner after the elections over DUI.

Izet Mexhiti, one of the leaders of the VLEN coalition, today said that they are not boycotting the presidential election, and urged their voters to come out and support one of the two remaining candidates. “We can feel the wind of change”, said Mexhiti, all but openly endorsing the opposition candidate Siljanovska.