State prosecutors said that they are investigating a leader of a political party for a social media comment, after receiving complaints from individuals as well as the Helsinki Committee, which frequently reports comments from opposition activists.

The prosecutors did not identify the comment in question but it’s clear that it is Dimitar Apasiev, the leader of the far left Levica party, which won two seats in Parliament in a rare coup for a small party that does not compete in the low turnout north-west. Shortly after the election results were made public, Apasiev wrote a celebratory comment warning people who might want to win Levica’s favor now that they are in the Parliament not to “suck up to Levica” because “we are still going to put you against the wall” or more bluntly “we’ll have you shot”. The comment was followed by a heart emoji and is more or less typical for the class struggle rhetoric of Apasiev, who was a former activist of the SDSM led Colored Revolution but turned on the ruling party over the imposed name change. His supporters have shared images of Apasiev likening him to Robespierre.

Levica won votes across the country campaigning on both anti-corruption and seizing the illegally gained property of corrupt politicians and on overturing the Prespa treaty. It campaigned even to the right of VMRO on the name issue, as did a number of other protest parties, but it also likely won support from other disgruntled former Colored Revolution activists on the left – so much so that SDSM aligned commentators were sometimes campaigning more against Levica than against VMRO.