We need to put an end to mediocrity in politics. For the past 30 years politicians were like cloned, like cyborgs, creating more like them. We need to send them packing, and have a new, spring oriented policy, Siljanovska said during a meeting with young supporters in Skopje.

Siljanovska’s result tied the combined electoral power of SDSM, DUI and dozens of smaller parties backing Pendarovski, which gave the opposition candidate the momentum in the next two weeks of campaigning. She appealed to the critics of Zaev and Pendarovski who, never the less, boycotted the first round and asked them for their votes.

I understand your position and I completely understand your anger and your need to express your disagreement with the political situation. Many of you don’t support Zoran Zaev’s policies, his crime, violent conduct, the injustices, but you decided not to support me. But understand that the reality has changed and we are on the verge of victory. That is why I call on you to express your disagreement with the wrongheaded actions of the Government by voting for the option that fights for justice and for the removal of this imposed Government, said Siljanovska.

A boycott movement grew out of the resentment accumulated with the September 2018 name change referendum. Angry at foreign interference and the brutal pressure on voters to support the name change, many Macedonians stayed in their homes, driving the referendum turnout far below the required 50 percent to make it valid – only 36 percent voted, and even that after ballot stuffing in the ethnic Albanian districts. VMRO-DPMNE largely supported the referendum boycott, but now calls on the public to help bring down the Zoran Zaev regime by voting for Siljanovska.