Another Mayor elected on the SDSM party ticket in 2017 announced an independent run today, apparently faced with being replaced for a new candidate. Zoran Nogaceski is the Mayor of the rural south-western municipality of Debrca, and he announced his independent run on the same day with the Mayor of Kumanovo Maksim Dimitrievski. Like Dimitrievski, Nogacevski will also collect signatures from citizens and run against whoever is the SDSM candidate in Debrca.

Zoran Zaev already removed a number of key mayors from the coming elections, including Stefan Bogoev in Karpos, Zlatko Marin in Aerodrom and Ilija Nikoloski in Prilep. The divisions in SDSM could help the VMRO-DPMNE candidates in these municipalities.