The ruling SDSM party began its local election campaign in Bitola. Zoran Zaev is trying to maintain his current near total domination over the majority ethnic Macedonian municipalities, and insisted that voting for SDSM will guarantee that the town or city will have “good cooperation” with his Government.

Our offer is one of a green agenda, quick economic development and infrastructure investments in all municipalities and regions, Zaev said.

Today is the first official day of the electoral campaign and while Zaev was in Bitola, VMRO-DPMNE held a rally in Ohrid. The elections are scheduled on October 17th, when the council members and some of the mayors will be elected. It’s expected that most mayoral candidates will be decided in the second round, two weeks later, when the two best placed candidates will face in a run-off.