Zoran Zaev refused to answer directly when asked today if his number two, Radmila Sekerinska, is distancing herself from the SDSM party. Sekerinska announced that she will not run for Vice President of the party at the coming congress, after providing Zaev with legitimacy in the eyes of the party’s “urban wing” for years. Her announcement comes as Zaev faces growing corruption scandals, some of whom were “dug up” by media outlets close to Sekerinska’s wing of the party.

Radmila Sekerinska did not resign from her post, she announced that she will not run for Vice President in the next term. We accepted to lead SDSM together in a very difficult time. Sekerinska deserves highest credit for our membership in NATO and for our EU accession talks. I will continue to cooperate with her. I believe that we will work on many new projects. Ask Sekerinska if she is distancing herself from me. She is my closest collaborator, one of my closest collaborators, Zaev said.

He added that he did not discuss a possible ambassadorship for Sekerinska in Washington, as she is still Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.

Sekerinska said that she is not running for the party office again because she wants to give a chance to fresh candidates. Zaev denied reports that Sekerinska is moving away from him over the Raskovski scandal – in which Zaev’s close adviser Dragi Raskovski is charged with corruption after reports in outlets close to Sekerinska.

I see no connection between the Raskovski case and the fact that Radmila decided not to run for another term as party deputy leader, Zaev insisted.