Zoran Zaev said that his SDSM party and DUI are considering ten potential presidential nominees, and that the name of the ruling coalition candidate can be revealed this evening, during a meeting at the newly opened Hilton hotel.

The meeting of SDSM and its coalition partners begins at 8 in the evening. Zaev was asked about the losing SDSM candidate in the 2014 elections, Stevo Pendarovski, and he confirmed that Pendarovski is on of the hopefuls.

We are in touch with all political parties who expressed readiness to stand behind a joint candidate. We are examining ten names, of course we have our favorites because the citizens sent us clear signals what king of a President they want for our country. We will take into account all analytical aspects in the sense that the future President of the Republic of North Macedonia is a President of all its citizens who will feel him as their own, and at the same time we believe he will be a strong enough motivating factor to bring the people out to the polls, Zaev said.

Besides Pendarovski and Radmila Sekerinska from the SDSM “urban wing” and Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov, Zaev is also believed to be considering his loyalist, Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski.

The opposition VMRO-DPMNE party elected professor Gordana Siljanovska as its candidate weeks ago, but the ruling coalition has been stuck in finding a candidate who would appeal to all SDSM factions, and to the crucial ethnic Albanian parties in the coalition.