The ruling SDSM party attempted to dismiss the incredible report from the village of Aracinovo, that it offered 300 pilot jobs to local villagers, during the fierce fight to win ethnic Albanian votes against its coalition partner DUI, and the ethnic Albanian opposition parties BESA and AA.

TV21 spoke to Aracinovo villagers, one of whom Sabi Bilali, spoke about what is probably the craziest pre-election promise ever. Promising military jobs to party loyalists is common practice in Macedonia, and the army runs a small helicopter pilot training school, but the number of such jobs promised in just one village was roundly mocked after the TV21 video went viral.
SDSM initially attempted to cast doubts on the motives of the television, whose crew was recently attacked by supporters of the SDSM Mayor of Aracinovo Milkije Halimi.

Zaev celebrates freedom of media report even after journalists were detained in the office of his political ally

Then the ruling party turned on the villager Sabi Bilali, declaring him a suspicious person and even, using the go-to excuse for SDSM, a supporter of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE, which has no presence in the almost exclusively ehnic Albanian village.

This story collapsed when a check of the man’s Facebook page revealed him frequenting the SDSM office in Aracinovo, congratulating Zoran Zaev on his appointment as Prime Minister, attending an SDSM rally…

Zoran Zaev offered a new explanation today – he said that what was promised to Aracinovo were “300 pilot projects”, as in trial projects for developing infrastructure, but the villagers misheard and misunderstood the promise. “You won’t find 300 pilot jobs even in my village of Murtino or in the whole of Skopje”, Zaev said.

Stuff politicians say: Village near Skopje was promised that 300 people will be hired – as pilots