The delegates at the SDSM party congress voted today to appoint new Vice Presidents of the party, after previously electing Sonja Lukarevska as the new deputy leader of the social-democratic party. Lukarevska assumes the position held by Radmila Sekerinska, who co-led the party alongside Zoran Zaev for almost a decade and lent him her credibility among the Skopje, urban wing of the party where Zaev as little clout. It’s unclear whether Lukarevska can play a similar role in the party, where Zaev has been strengthening the position of his own wing – known as the rural wing to distinguish from Sekerinska’s faction.

The Vice Presidents are a lower form of deputies to the leader, compared to the deputy leader, and here Zaev decided to promote Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce, who has been growing increasingly close to him for the duration of the pandemic. Zaev also retained his loyalist Oliver Spasovski, and the far left faction leader Mila Carovska. Fatmir Bytiqi, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of economic development, replaced Zaev’s chief of staff Muhamed Zekiri as Vice President. The two come from the ethnic Albanian wing of the party. Also out from his tier of the leadership is the party’s PR guru Kosta Petrov. It is expected that another Zaev loyalist – Ljupco Nikolovski – will remain as Secretary General of the party.

Sekerinska was diplomatic and congratulated her successor and the new leadership of the party. “Be brave, be determined, be strong. Lead us so that we remain the best. Run so they don’t overtake you. Speak so they don’t silence you”, Sekerinska said.
The changes come at a time when Zaev faces a slew of corruption scandals – one of them unearthed by a news outlet close to Sekerinska which raised eyebrows – and is under an open challenge from former party leader Branko Crvenkovski who called on him to leave the helm of the party. This division could influence the outcome of the municipal elections in October, where SDSM will have to play defense across the entire country after capturing nearly all important cities in the 2017 elections.

Another split is apparent in Kumanovo, where outspoken Mayor Maksim Dimitrievski, who did not shy from criticizing Zaev, was left out from the Central Committee of the party. As Mayor of one of the biggest cities in the country this position should have been the least Dimitrievski should get. Faktor reported that delegates from Kumanovo reacted when they realized their Mayor is not on the list. Dimitrievski himself moved to quiet down the problem, sayign that he is not running for a seat on the Committee and will continue to support the party.

VMRO-DPMNE responded to the leadership changes in SDSM by saying that none of the newly promoted officials will bring anything new or good to the country.

The citizens mainly protest about two major defects – the poor healthcare and the poor economy. Venko Filipce represents the former and Sanja Lukarevska the latter. The promotion of these two officials means that Zaev is burying his party. Lukarevska led us to 60,000 job losses and 6,200 closed companies, while Filipce is responsible for 5,200 corona deaths, the opposition party said.

VMRO-DPMNE also criticized the continued leadership position for Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski, even after the major scandal in which it was revealed his department was systematically issuing fake documents to regional and European mafia bosses and hitmen. Over 200 such passports were issued, and some of the mafia figures reportedly met with Zaev and with other regime officials.