Former Defense Minister Slavjanka Petrovska, who bowed out of the SDSM leadership race, said that the party is held captured by its new leadership. Venko Filipce was elected new leader with a 4:1 margin over Jovan Despotovski, in a clear victory for the Zoran Zaev led wing of the party.

This is a fiasco. The new leader was elected with the votes of just 11 percent of all SDSM party members, out of 83,000 members, just 9,000 voted for him. This will only extend the agony of the party, which has been sinking since 2020. Many SDSM party members were prevented from voting today because they were not on the registry, even though they applied in time. Additionally, 11,000 registered members refused to vote because of the way in which the campaign was conducted, with personal favors and abuse of registry lists, said Petrovska.

She adds that she will continue to fight for a new style SDSM, and asks that a different, temporary leadership is formed in the party to unite the divided factions and then hold proper elections.