Tomorrow, Sunday, October 31, the second round of the municipal elections will take place in Northern Macedonia, which is characterized as critical, as its outcome can immediately launch political developments in the country.
In the first round of municipal elections held on October 17, Christian Mickoski’s right-wing opposition VMRO-DPMNE elected 22 mayors, while Zoran Zaef’s ruling Social Democratic Party (SDSM) elected only nine. Ali Ahmeti’s Albanian ruling party, DUI, won three municipalities in the first round.
Ballot boxes for the second round will be set up in 44 municipalities in the country and in the metropolitan municipality of Skopje, where the independent candidate, who is openly supported by VMRO-DPMNE, Danela Arsovska and the outgoing mayor of Skopje and his new candidate, will face each other. SDSM, Petre Silegov.
In the first round, Danela Arsovska, who is the president of the country’s Chamber of Commerce, received 37.68%, while Petre Silegov received 34.24%. Zoran Zaef, in an interview a few days ago on a Skopje TV station, left open the possibility of resigning as the country’s prime minister, in case his party loses on Sunday in the metropolitan municipality of Skopje.
The other municipalities
The second round will be crucial in the municipality of Kumanovo (the second largest municipality in the country), as well as in Bitola (Monastery) with the candidates of SDSM and the opposition having a small difference from the first round. A second round will also be held in Ohrid, where the VMRO-DPMNE candidate is expected to prevail.
As for the Albanian political “camp”, the focus is on the municipality of Tetovo, where the candidate of the ruling Albanian party DUI, Teuta Arifi, is running for a third term. Arifi’s opponent in the second round of the municipal elections in Tetovo is the leader of the smallest ruling Albanian party “BESA”, Bilal Kasami.
The stakes of these elections
The result of the first round of municipal elections was certainly disappointing for Zoran Zaef’s party and was seen as an disapproval of government policy, something that Zaef himself acknowledged, stating that his citizens had given him a “yellow” card.
Public opinion appears dissatisfiedwith government policies in the economy, tackling the pandemic, fighting corruption and justice.
Zaef, with his statements of resignation and the constant reminder of Northern Macedonia’s accession to NATO, which he considers its achievement, as well as the procedures for the country’s accession to the EU, aims at broader alliances within the country. He hints that if he resigns as prime minister, the country’s European course will be jeopardized, as the alternative will be the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE. In addition, Zaef points out that if VMRO-DPMNE comes to power, it will jeopardize Northern Macedonia’s relations with neighboring countries, Greece and Bulgaria, which, according to him, will have incalculable consequences for its European perspective. country. His main goal is to “wake up” a significant percentage of center-left voters who did not go to the polls in the first round of these elections, as a sign of frustration and protest against government policies.
For its part, VMRO-DPMNE, which traditionally has a “disciplined” electorate, goes down in this second round of municipal elections with the air of a winner from the first round and escalates its attacks on Zaef’s government, stressing that it is completely “incompetent” and unable to meet the expectations of the people for the economic development of the country and for dealing with the daily problems of the citizens.
VMRO-DPMNE appears to have overcome the internal party controversies of the past and claims to have the only credible political proposal for the country.
In general, these municipal elections have clearly become a showdown between the government and the opposition, with local government issues almost off the agenda. For this reason, they are a critical test for the government of Zoran Zaef, who if he loses the municipality of Skopje will find himself in a particularly difficult position, with the political time counting down for him.
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