Three current or former top party officials submitted their nominations for leader of the SDSM party yesterday, following the resignation of Dimitar Kovacevski.

This includes outgoing Defence Minister Slavjanka Petrovska, former Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce and outgoing head of the industrial zones Jovan Despotovski. All three are announcing that they want a chance to revive the party’s fortunes after the disastrous electoral defeats that it suffered against VMRO-DPMNE in the joint presidential and general elections held in May.

Filipce, who may have a slight edge in the race that will be decided by votes of SDSM party members, is widely seen as a candidate of former party leader Zoran Zaev. After both left top politics in 2021, Filipce has been exceptionally close to Zaev and they would frequently be seen together travelling across the country. Filipce was standing in for Zaev at the top of the SDSM list at the 5th electoral district, which includes Zaev’s hometown of Strumica. Filipce was also frequently accused of corruption during his term in office. He was charged with trying to divert the all-important purchase of COVID vaccines through a dubious company from China and was recently accused that he was trying to force owners of private hospitals to sell their businesses to businessmen close to Zaev and himself.

Jovan Despotovski is seen as candidate very close to another former SDSM leader – Radmila Sekerinska, who represents the Skopje wing of the party, with serious diplomatic connections and ties to the NGO world. He was an unofficial in the secretariat for European Affairs while Sekerinska ran this institution.  During his term in the first Zaev cabinet, when Despotovski was placed in charge of the fund for supporting technologically innovative solutions by private businesses, he was widely criticised for giving numerous grants too politicians from SDSM and their businesses, as well as to journalists supportive of SDSM. The grants were given for “innovations” that were clearly stolen from foreign companies or worthless. Despotovski called on the other candidates to renounce the option of holding top positions in the party if they lose the leadership race. Petrovska accepted this idea while Filipce refused, and said that it would be important for the party to try to unify after the leadership race, hinting that this will include offering the losing candidates positions of Vice President or a regional party branch leadership.

Slavjanka Petrovska is also seen as close to Sekerinska – she was her chief of cabinet in the Defence Ministry before assuming the top position there herself. Petrovska was head of the SDSM list in the sixth electoral district in the northwest of the country and was the only candidate from the list to enter Parliament The main corruption scandal involving Slavjanka Petrovska covers attempt to purchase army helicopters from Italy at hugely inflated prices. But she assumes that she is safest from the three candidates in this regard, and floated a proposal that, if any candidate faces criminal charges, he withdraws from the race.

The new leader will be elected on June 30th.