As a result of the promised purge of corrupt and incompetent party officials, Zoran Zaev dismissed all his deputies this evening. The changes in the party seem aimed directly at its Skopje wing, led by Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska.

Also dismissed are Secretary General Aleksandar Kiracovski and the entire Executive Committee of SDSM. The SDSM Central Committee elected Agriculture Minister Ljupco Nikolovski as the new Secretary General.

Kiracovski’s removal was expected, given the numerous cases of nepotism he was involved, hiring members of his own family to public sector jobs, but also allowing the practice widespread across the entire country.

But, less expected was Zaev’s decision to remove his deputies. This includes Oliver Spasovski, Frosina Remenski, Petre Silegov, Muhamed Zekiri, Blagoj Bocvarski and Damjan Mancevski. Women wing head Cvetanka Laskova was also told to leave.