I claim that the Democratic Forces of the Roma is the strongest party of the Roma and one of the largest coalition partners of VMRO-DPMNE, says leader Shaban Saliu in an interview with “Republika”.

He explains that they confirmed this with the results of the local elections and the last protests.

We have been in a coalition with VMRO-DPMNE since 2003 and we are the first coalition partner and we have never thought of joining other coalitions. Even during the worst of times, we remained loyal to our coalition, explained Saliu.

According to him, his party is the most organized of all structures with 43 municipal organizations in all of Macedonia. They can bring about 20,000 votes, which is not to be neglected at all.

If there is one electoral constituency, of course we would get two MPs and maybe more. But even then we will still form a coalition with VMRO-DPMNE, said Saliu.

Saliu assesses the situation in the country as anemic, disappointing and regrettable.

It was as if a war was being waged in the country. Covid was everywhere, but there were also solutions everywhere. We will also have a hard time getting through the energy crisis. If it wasn’t for Serbia, even half of those who have been vaccinated would not have been vaccinated, recalls Saliu.

The leader of the Democratic Forces of the Roma is convinced that there will be elections in the spring because this situation is unsustainable.

Speaking about the situation of the Roma, Saliu says that it is difficult, especially after they closed the market in the municipality of Shuto Orizari, from which a large part provided their basic livelihood.

Unfortunately, the people vote as they vote. In the local elections, there were several Roma political parties and about 4,500 citizens voted in Shuto Orizari, but the votes are divided. Whoever manages to make a deal with the Albanian votes becomes the mayor. The non-Roma votes decide for the mayor in Shuto Orizari. The political parties of the Albanians have their own municipal organizations in Shuto Orizari and where they will join with their votes, that is the majority in the council of the municipality, Saliu told “Republika”.

Regarding the results of the last census, Saliu believes that it does not express the true number of Roma in the country and for him that census is illegitimate.

The census for us is an exodus of the Roma community. It said there are 46,375 while we were 53,370. This census has been misused and the real number has been sold for political interests of certain parties, he said.

As a former director of the Directorate for Protection and Rescue, Saliu believes that this year only God saved us from major floods and fires.

Prevention is the most important segment for the Directorate to be able to deal with natural disasters. On the other hand, we did not have many fires this year. The damage if the prevention is not present is one to seven. If the prevention is good, the costs are also lower. We cannot successfully deal with forest fires with one plane. No matter how expensive servicing is, it is much more expensive when forests, houses and, God forbid, human lives burn down. The planes have to be serviced on time and be in top condition by April every year at the latest, said Saliu.

Listen to the entire conversation in the video interview conducted by Igor Caveski