The “humanitarian actions” staged by the ruling SDSM party were clearly meant to bribe voters, says VMRO-DPMNE Vice President Aleksandar Nikoloski.

SDSM activists have distributed food to poor, mainly Roma neighborhoods in Strumica and in Kumanovo before that, causing the people to scramble for food even as the coronavirus was spreading through this city with high speed. In Strumica, the son of SDSM party leader Zoran Zaev and one of his chief deputies Kostadin Kostadinov were distributing packages with cooking oil and food.

As the virus was spreading through Kumanovo, SDSM got its poorest citizens to fight over sacks of potatoes

According to Nikoloski, it’s clear that the food was stockpiled in anticipation of the now cancelled April 12 elections and was going to be used to bribe the poorest citizens to vote for SDSM.

This so-called aid was going to be used to corrupt voters. They timed it for a week to ten days before the elections. We saw from the La Verita tapes how state prosecutors were investigating SDSM for bribing voters and their practice is an open secret in Kumanovo and Strumica. Citizens are turning to the social media to describe how the bribery is organized, Nikoloski said.

Nikoloski called on SDSM to provide documents about when and how they purchased the food packages.

This practice guarantees that we will see renewed bribery attempts when the elections are actually held. It is a serious crime to bribe voters and SDSM need to be aware that they will be held responsible, Nikoloski added.