During the televised debate of the leaders of the two main parties, VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski told his SDSM counterpart Dimitar Kovacevski that he sees them remaining subcontractors to DUI. Ali Ahmeti’s party amassed unprecedented power in the past years, as the survival of the nominally SDSM led Government depended on DUI.

Even I felt ashamed of the way SDSM acted with regard to DUI in the past seven years. It was painful to see. From a party that participated in our statehood, they became subconstractors to Artan Grubi and Ali Ahmeti. Kovacevski’s entire criticism of DUI and their reign in office is reduced to criticising Artan Grubi for the time he played football with other ministers in his office. If it was not tragic, it would be funny. Kovacevski is Prime Minister at the time of the Soravia scandal, a time when DUI people bought properties all over Macedonia, were involved in a myriad scandals, and now he says that he will tackle them in the next term. No, SDSM won’t do anything to DUI, they can only remain their subcontractors. Kittens can’t be lions. The position of VMRO-DPMNE is that the DUI officials who brought shame to Macedonia must be held accountable, Mickoski told Kovacevski.

Mickoski said that the next Government will open a broad front against crime and corruption, pointing to the dismal trust in the judiciary as shown in public polls, and the criticism of this branch in reports from EU and the State Department. VMRO calls for a complete reforming of the Judicial Council and the Council of Public Prosecutors, with new candidates elected in an accountable way, who will help begin a serious fight against corruption.