Zoran Zaev and his mayoral candidate in Skopje Petre Silegov held a sparsely attended rally in Skopje’s Karpos district, which unexpectedly became a key battleground in the local elections, even though it was supposed to be an easy SDSM hold. After the devastating loss in the first round, Zaev called his supporters to help him turn things around somewhat by electing Silegov as Mayor of Skopje and Dusko Veskovski in Karpos. In his remarks, Silegov warned about instability if he loses, and Zaev is forced to resign as result.

The peace and stability are something that comes with us. Dear friends, the choice is that we go back to 2017, to the fear and instability or we continue to build a joint Skopje, Silegov said.

Hours before the rally, the opposition parties announced that they have formed majority in the Karpos Council. It will include VMRO-DPMNE, Levica and the GROM party led by Stevce Jakimovski. Jakimovski was second placed in the mayoral race and, with the help of the VMRO and Levica votes, has a solid shot at beating Veskovski in the run-off. SDSM was hoping that Karpos is their strongest municipality in Skopje.